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To cause to fail of effect, either wholly or in part; to make void; to destroy, as the validity or binding force of an instrument or transaction; to annul; as, any undue influence exerted on a jury vitiates their verdict; fraud vitiates a contract.

An empty space; a vacuum. Pride, where wit fails, steps in to our defense, And fills up all the mighty void of sense. Pope.

To decline; to fail; to sink. You saw but sorrow in its waning form. Dryden. Land and trade ever will wax and wane together. Sir J. Child.

To be absent; to be deficient or lacking; to fail; not to be sufficient; to fall or come short; to lack; -- often used impersonally with of; as, it wants ten minutes of four. The disposition, the manners, and the thoughts are all before it; where any of those are wanting or imperfect, so much wants or is imperfect in t…

Failing or diminishing trust; want of trust or confidence; distrust. [Obs.] Chaucer.

val; as, a great way; a long way. And whenever the way seemed long, Or his heart began to fail. Longfellow.

, weak resolutions; weak virtue. Guard thy heart On this weak side, where most our nature fails. Addison.

e; convenient; advantageous; happy; as, it is well for the country that the crops did not fail; it is well that the mistake was discovered. It was well with us in Egypt. Num. xi. 18.

). It is used in all numbers and genders, and was formerly used of persons. And when thou fail'st -- as God forbid the hour! --Must Edward fall, which peril heaven forfend! Shak. God . . . rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. Gen. ii. 2. Our Father, which art in heaven. Matt. vi. 9. The temple…

To wither; to fail. [Obs.] Holland.

ant in replevin when he has obtained judgment for a return of the chattels replevied, and fails to obtain them on the writ of return. Blackstone.

s, to writhe with agony. Also used figuratively. After every attempt, he felt that he had failed, and writhed with shame and vexation. Macaulay.

Full of wrath; angry; incensed; much exasperated; wrathful. "Wroth to see his kingdom fail." Milton. Revel and truth as in a low degree, They be full wroth [i. e., at enmity] all day. Chaucer. Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell. Gen. iv. 5.