/əˈvɔɪd/
OriginFrom Middle English avoiden, from Anglo-Norman avoider, Old French esvuidier (“to empty out”), from es- + vuidier, from Vulgar Latin *vocitāre < Vulgar Latin *vocitum, ultimately related to Latin vacuus. Displaced native Old English forbūgan (literally “to bend away from”).
- transitiveTo try not to meet or communicate with (a person); to shun.
- transitiveTo stay out of the way of (something harmful).
“I avoided the slap easily.”
“One town was flooded from the storm, while the other town avoided the storm.”
- transitiveTo keep away from; to keep clear of; to stay away from.
“I try to avoid the company of gamblers.”
“What need a man foreſtall his date of griefe / And run to meet what he would moſt avoid?” — Comus
“He still hoped that he might be able to win some chiefs who remained neutral; and he carefully avoided every act which could goad them into open hostility.”
- transitiveTo try not to do something or to have something happen.
“Then he realized, by the immobility of the other children and by the way they avoided looking at him, that it was he who was selected for punishment.”
- obsolete, transitiveTo make empty; to clear.
“If thou haue, he shal lyue with thee, and auoide thee out ; and he shal not sorewen vpon thee.”
- transitiveTo make void, to annul; to refute (especially a contract).
“But Y seie, this testament is confermed of God; the lawe that was maad after foure hundrid and thritti yeer, makith not the testament veyn to auoide awei the biheest.”
“[…] how can those graunts of the Kings be avoyded, without wronging of those lords, which had those lands and lordships given them?”
- transitiveTo defeat or evade; to invalidate.
“[…] in an action for treſpaſſing upon land whereof the plaintiff is ſeiſed, if the defendant ſhews a title to the land by deſcent, and that therefore he had a right to enter, and gives colour to the p”
- obsolete, transitiveTo emit or throw out; to void.
“[…] the citie of Memi where is a great caue oꝛ denne in the which is a ſpꝛynge oꝛ fountayne that continually auoydethe a great quantitie of Bitumen […]”
“[…] a Toad piſſeth not, nor doe they containe thoſe urinary parts which are found in other animals, to avoid that ſerous excretion; […]”
- obsolete, transitiveTo leave, evacuate; to leave as empty, to withdraw or come away from.
“Anone they encountred to gyders / and he with the reed shelde smote hym soo hard that he bare hym ouer to the erthe / There with anone came another Knyght of the castel / and he was smyten so sore tha”
“1565, Thomas Stapleton (translator), The History of the Church of Englande. Compiled by Venerable Bede, Englishman, Antwerp, Book 5, Chapter 20, pp. 178b-179,
[…] the bishop commaunded al to auoide th”
“This yeare alſo was a pꝛoclamation made in London, and thꝛoughout all the realme, that all ſtrangers ſhould auoid the land befoꝛe the feaſt of ſaint Michaell then next following except thoſe that came”
- obsolete, transitiveTo get rid of.
“Whanne Y was a litil child, Y spak as a litil child, Y vndurstood as a litil child, Y thouyte as a litil child; but whanne Y was maad a man, Y auoidide tho thingis that weren of a litil child.”
“[…] expell out of your thoughts all douts, auoid out of your minds all feare; and like valiant champions aduance fooꝛth your ſtandards, […]”
“[…] the ſpirit of my Father, which I thinke is within mee, begins to mutinie againſt this ſeruitude. I will no longer endure it, though yet I know no wiſe remedy how to auoid it.”
- intransitive, obsoleteTo retire; to withdraw, depart, go away.
“The devyll […] ſayde vnto hym: all theſe will I geve the / iff thou wilt faull doune and woꝛſhip me. Thẽ ſayde Ieſus vnto hym. Avoyd Satan.”
“Pray you poore Gentleman, take vp ſome other ſtation: Heere’s no place for you, pray you auoid: Come.”
“And Saul caſt the iauelin; foꝛ hee ſaid, I will ſmite Dauid euen to the wall with it: and Dauid auoided out of his pꝛeſence twice.”
- intransitive, obsoleteTo become void or vacant.
Formsavoids(present, singular, third-person) · avoiding(participle, present) · avoided(participle, past) · avoided(past)