A-void'1, v. t.
v. t. [imp. & p. p. AVOIDED; p. pr. & vb. n. AVOIDING.] [Prefix a and void, q. v. It coincides in sense with Fr. éviter, Pr. evitar, Lat. evitare, to avoid, from ex; e, from, out of, and vitare, to avoid.]
Sense 1. To shun; to keep at a distance from or away from; as, to avoid the company of gamesters.
What need a man forestall his date of grief, And run to meet what he would most avoid? Milton.
Sense 2. To quit or evacuate; to shun by leaving or withdrawing. [Obs.] Shak.
Six of us only stayed, and the rest avoided the room. Bacon.
Sense 3. To emit or throw out; to void; as, to avoid excretions. [Obs.] Browne.
Sense 4. To make void; to annul or vacate.
How can these grants of the king's be avoided? Spenser.
Sense 5. (Pleading.) To defeat or evade. Thus, in a replication, the plaintiff may deny the defendant's plea, or confess it, and avoid it by stating new matter. Blackstone.
Synonyms—To AVOID, SHUN. Avoid is literally to leave a void space between ourselves and something else. It is, in a certain sense, negative, and simply denotes care taken not to come near or in contact; as, to avoid certain persons or places. Shun is positive, and denotes an habitual intention to keep clear of; as, to shun evil companions. Prudence may lead us to avoid; fear or disgust induces us to shun.
No man can pray from his heart to be kept from temptation, if he take no care of himself to avoid it. Mason.
So chanticleer, who never saw a fox, Yet shunned him as a sailor shuns the rocks. Dryden.