Blight

Part of speech: noun (n.)

1. Mildew; decay; anything nipping or blasting; -- applied as a general name to various injuries or diseases of plants, causing the whole or a part to wither, whether occasioned by insects, fungi, or atmospheric influences.

2. The act of blighting, or the state of being blighted; a withering or mildewing, or a stoppage of growth in the whole or a part of a plant, etc.

3. 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.

4. A downy species of aphis, or plant louse, destructive to fruit trees, infesting both the roots and branches; -- also applied to several other injurious insects.

5. A rashlike eruption on the human skin. [U. S.]

Part of speech: verb (v.)

1. To affect with blight; to blast; to prevent the growth and fertility of. [This vapor] blasts vegetables, blights corn and fruit, and is sometimes injurious even to man. Woodward.

2. Hence: To destroy the happiness of; to ruin; to mar essentially; to frustrate; as, to blight one's prospects. Seared in heart and lone and blighted. Byron.

Part of speech: verb (v.)

To be affected by blight; to blast; as, this vine never blights.