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the sound heard in laughing; laughter. See Laugh, v. i. And the loud laugh that spoke the vacant mind. Goldsmith. That man is a bad man who has not within him the power of a hearty laugh. F. W. Robertson.

Vacant of employment; not occupied; idle; leisure; as leisurable hours. [Obs.] Sir T. Browne.

Freedom from occupation or business; vacant time; time free from employment. The desire of leisure is much more natural than of business and care. Sir W. Temple.

ommanding an ordinary collator to put the person therein named in possession of the first vacant benefice in his collation.

Hence: A vacant place; an opportunity; as, an opening for business. [Colloq.] Dickens.

of a suffragan bishop consecrated or confirmed by him, for bestowal by himself when next vacant; -- annulled by Parliament in 1845.

ght and bearing the crest. In orle, round the escutcheon, leaving the middle of the field vacant, or occupied by something else; -- said of bearings arranged on the shield in the form of an orle.

To appoint to an ecclesiastical benefice before it is vacant. See Provisor. Prescott.

A nomination by the pope to a benefice before it became vacant, depriving the patron of his right of presentation. Blackstone.

ir, and exchange places, the one without a corner endeavoring to get a corner while it is vacant, leaving some other without one. -- Puss moth (Zoöl.), any one of several species of stout bombycid moths belonging to Cerura, Harpyia, and allied genera, esp. Harpyia vinuli, of Europe. The larvæ are humpbacked, and have…

ting; a writing of little value; a scrawl; as, a hasty scribble. Boyle. Neither did I but vacant seasons spend In this my scribble. Bunyan.

n majesty, And thereon sat a woman gorgeous gay. Spenser. In our great hall there stood a vacant chair . . . And Merlin called it "The siege perilous." Tennyson.

To wander about idly and vacantly. [Obs.]

To fill temporarily; to serve as substitute for another in, as a vacant place or office; to occupy; to have possession of; as, to supply a pulpit.

rea of the solids of a building, walls, piers, and the like, as compared with the open or vacant spaces. -- Right of support (Law), an easement or servitude by which the owner of a house has a right to rest his timber on the walls of his neighbor's house. Kent.

The quality or state of being vacant; emptiness; hence, freedom from employment; intermission; leisure; idleness; listlessness. All dispositions to idleness or vacancy, even before they are habits, are dangerous. Sir H. Wotton.

To make vacant; to leave empty; to cease from filling or occupying; as, it was resolved by Parliament that James had vacated the throne of England; the tenant vacated the house.

The time when an office is vacant; esp. (Eccl.), the time when a see, or other spiritual dignity, is vacant.

Empty; unfilled; void; vacant. Boundless the deep, because I am who fill Infinitude; nor vacuous the space. Milton. That the few may lead selfish and vacuous days. J. Morley.

Containing nothing; empty; vacant; not occupied; not filled. The earth was without form, and void. Gen. i. 2. I 'll get me to a place more void. Shak. I 'll chain him in my study, that, at void hours, I may run over the story of his country. Massinger.