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ke worse; to diminish in quantity, value, excellence, or strength; to deteriorate; as, to impair health, character, the mind, value. Time sensibly all things impairs. Roscommon. In years he seemed, but not impaired by years. Pope.

One who, or that which, impairs.

The state of being impaired; injury. "The impairment of my health." Dryden.

That can not be impaired. Hakewill.

To impair; to destroy. [Obs.] Hacket.

To abate, impair, or debase by mixture; to allay; as, to alloy pleasure with misfortunes.

To impair or become impaired; to injure. [Obs.] Chaucer.

To impair; to grow worse. [Obs.]

To wear or impair as if by beating or by hard usage. "Each battered jade." Pope.

To mark with deformity; to injure or impair, as anything which is well formed, or excellent; to mar, or make defective, either the body or mind. Sin is a soil which blemisheth the beauty of thy soul. Brathwait.

The state of being blemished; blemish; disgrace; damage; impairment. For dread of blame and honor's blemishment. Spenser.

That which frustrates one's plans or withers one's hopes; that which impairs or destroys. A blight seemed to have fallen over our fortunes. Disraeli.

To impair; to damage; to mar; to soil. It blots thy beauty, as frosts do bite the meads. Shak.

To repress or weaken, as any appetite, desire, or power of the mind; to impair the force, keenness, or susceptibility, of; as, to blunt the feelings.

To weaken or impair, as health, spirit, or mind. An old man, broken with the storms of state. Shak.

A condition of ill health and impairment of nutrition due to impoverishment of the blood, esp. when caused by a specific morbid process (as cancer or tubercle).

crystalline lens, or of its capsule, which prevents the passage of the rays of light and impairs or destroys the sight.

Be not disheartened, then, nor cloud those looks. Milton. Nothing clouds men's minds and impairs their honesty like prejudice. M. Arnold.

olent language or behavior in presence of a court, tending to disturb its proceedings, or impair the respect due to its authority.

To consume; to wear away; to prey upon; to impair.