vacant (vakant)

caunt; That after-Act, vacate ing the autoritie of the precedent. Eikon Basilike , p. 10. If a man insures his life, this killing himself vacates the bargain. Walpole , Letters, II. 418. 3. To defeat the purpose of; make void of meaning; make usele . He vacates my revenge. Dryden, Don Sebastian, ii. 1. II. in trans. To quit; leave. I to pay four dollars and twenty-five cents to-night, he to vacate at five to-morrow morning. Thoreau , Walden, p. 48. Evelyn , Diary, Jan. 18, 1645. [Early mod. E. also va- vacant = vacation (vā-kā'shon), n. [ vacacion , va- Shak., Hen. VIII., v. 1. 126. Special dignities, which vacant lie For thy best use and wearing. Shak ., T. of A., v. 1. 145. By... [Pelham's] death, the highest post to which an English subject can aspire was left vacant . Macaulay , William Pitt. 3. Not engaged or filled with busine or care; unemployed; unoccupied; free; disengaged; idle: as, vacant hours. Alexander, in tymes vacaunt from bataile, delyted in that maner huntinge. Sir T. Elyot , The Govern our, i. 18. The loud laugh that spoke the vacant mind. Goldsmith, Des. Vil., 1. 122. Absence of occupation is not rest; A mind quite vacant is a mind distre 'd. IMG:content-1663.png:[blocks in formation] Irving , Sketch-Book, p. 59. 7. In law: (a) Not filled; unoccupied: as, a vacant office. (b) Empty: as, a vacant house. In the law of fire-insurance a house may be unoccupied, and yet not be deemed vacant. (c) Abandoned; having no heir: as, vacant effects or goods. Vacant cylinder, lot, po e ion. See the nouns. = Syn. 1-4. Vacant, Empty, Void, Devoid. Void and devoid are now used in a physical sense only in poetic or elevated diction; void is often used of laws, legal instruments, and the like: as, the will or deed or law was pronounced null and void. Devoid is now always followed by of: as, devoid of reason; a mind devoid of ideas. Vacant and empty are primarily physical: as, an empty box; a vacant lot. Empty is much the more general: it applies to that which contains nothing, whether previously filled or not: as, an empty bottle, drawer, nest, head. Vacant applies to that which has been filled or occupied, or is intended or is ready or needs to be filled or occupied: as, a vacant throne, chair, space, office, mind: an empty room has no furniture in it; a vacant room is one that is free for occupation. Vacant is a word of some dignity, and is therefore not used of the plainest things: we do not speak of a vacant box or bottle. vacantly (vā'kant-li), adv. In a vacant man vacate (vā kāt), v.; pret. and pp. vacated, ppr. ner; idly. vacating. [L. vacatus, pp. of vacare, be empty or vacant. From the same L. verb are ult. Shak., Hamlet, iii. 4. 117. E. vacant, vacuous, vacuum, etc. Cf. vain.] I. Alas, how is 't with you, That you do bend your eye on vacancy? (b) An intermediate space; a gap; a chasm. trans. 1. To make vacant; cause to be empty; = Pr. vaccatio = Sp. vacacion = Pg. vac ação = It. vacazione, 2. A space of time, or a condition, in which there is an intermi ion of a stated employment or procedure; a stated interval in a round of duties; a holiday. To raise Recruits, and draw new Forces down, Thus, in the dead Vacation of the Town. Congreve, Pyrrhus, Prol. Specifically-(a) In law, temporary ce ation of judicial proceedings; the space of time between the end of one term of court and the beginning of the next; the period during which a court holds no se ions; rece ; non-term. In England the vacations are-Christmas vacation, commencing on December 24th and ending January 6th; Easter vacation, commencing on Good Friday and ending on Easter Tuesday; Whitsun vacation, commencing on the Saturday before and ending on the Tuesday after Whit sunday; and the long vacation, commencing on August 13th and ending on October 23d. Why should not conscience have vacation As well as other courts o' th' nation? S. Butler, Hudibras, II. ii. 317. (b) The intermi ion of the regular studies of an educational institution of any kind, when the students have a rece ; holidays: as, the summer vacation. 3. The act of becoming vacant; avoidance: said especially of a see or other spiritual dignity.-4. Freedom from duty; leisure time. Whan he hadde leyser and vacacioun From oother worldly occupacioun. Chaucer, Prol. to Wife of Bath's Tale, 1. 683. vacationist (va-ka's hon-ist), n. [ vacation + -ist.] One who is taking a vacation; especially, one who is journeying for pleasure; an excursionist. [Colloq.]