voidance
(ˈvɔɪdəns)
Also 4–5 voydaunce, 5 -ans, 5, 7 -ance, 5 voidaunce, -ans.
[a. AF. voidaunce, vuedance, OF. vuidance, voydance, etc., f. voider void v., or aphetic f. avoidance.]
The action of voiding or making void.
1. The action or process of emptying out the contents of something; = avoidance 1. a. The discharge or evacuation of something through a natural vent, esp. from the human body by excretion; = evacuation 1 b. Now rare.
| 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. v. xlvi. (Bodl. MS.), Þis wombe is ofte igreued by greete fulnes and replecion and þat is nought þanne iholpe but by voidans þat is contrary to replecion. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 511/2 Voydaunce (or voydynge), vacacio, evacuacio. c 1460 Vrbanitatis 20 in Babees Bk. (1868) 13 Fro spettyng & snetyng kepe þe also; Be priuy of voydance, & lette hit go. 1528 More Dyaloge i. Wks. 137/1 By the longing for mete with voidance of y{supt} she had eten..she was perceiued for no saint. 1654 Gataker Disc. Apol. 58 This voidance of blood doth at times stil surprize me, tho not with such vehemency. 1668 Culpepper & Cole Barthol. Anat. i. vi. 14 The Second Action follows upon the former, viz. the voidance of Excrements. 1671 Grew Anat. Plants vi. §2 In the bark the same thing is effected by..a meer voydance of the Sap. 1829 Landor Imag. Conv. Ser. ii. I. 491 The reception, concoction, and voidance, of nutriment. |
b. The emptying out, carrying off or away, of water, etc., esp. by drainage. Now rare.
| 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xiv. lvii. (Tollem. MS.), For parties of þe erþe ben digged and holowid..with crepynge wormes and bestes..or with voydaunce and oute castynge. 1442 Rolls of Parlt. V. 44/1 As well for passage of all maner Shippes comyng therto, and voidaunce of water under the seid Brigg, as for passage of Man. 1861 Smiles Engineers II. 160 To provide for the drainage of the Fen districts..by means of proper cuts and conduits for the voidance of the Fen waters. |
† 2. The action or fact of removing, clearing away, or getting rid of something; removal. Obs.
| c 1400 Sowdone Bab. 1106 The Barons made hem at one with grete prayer and instaunce,..Of the more myschiefe to make voydaunce. 1530 Palsgr. 285/2 Voydaunce, uidance, deslegement. 1610 Bp. Hall Apol. Brownists liii. 128 Succeeding times found these Canaanites to be prickes and thornes, and therefore both by mulctes and banishments sought eyther their yeeldance or voydance. 1631 J. Burges Answ. Rejoined, Lawfuln. Kneeling 70 Before the Transubstantiation, or voydance of the substance of bread was resolued of. a 1677 Barrow Serm. Wks. 1686 III. 213 What pains..they require, in the voidance of fond conceits, in the suppression..of froward humours. |
3. Eccl. The fact of a benefice, etc., becoming or being void or vacant; = avoidance 4.
| 1422 Rolls of Parlt. IV. 194/1 That tyme of the voidaunce of the same Prebend. c 1440 Jacob's Well 28 Alle þo, þat vsurpyn of newe tyme þe kepyng or þe amonicyoun of ony cherch in tyme of voydaunce, & ocupye þe godys. 1449 Rolls of Parlt. V. 158/1 Of the sayd Wardes, mariages, Relevis, voydaunces abovesayd. 1531 Dial. on Laws Eng. ii. xxxvii. N iij b, If the patron presented not within the halfe yere after suche voydance:..That than the kynge shold haue also the presentement. 1570 Foxe A. & M. (ed. 2) I. 347/1 That prouision should be made for iij hundred Romanes in the chiefest and best benefices in al Englande, at ye next voydance. 1607 Cowell Interpr., Voydance, is a want of an Incumbent vpon a benefice: and this voydance is double: either in law, as when a man hath more benefices incompetible: or indeed, as when the Incumbent is dead, or actually depriued. a 1645 Featly Abbot in Fuller's Abel Rediv. (1867) II. 282 One of his hearers, having a benefice of great value in his gift,..took a resolution upon the next voidance of it to confer it upon him. 1709 Strype Ann. Ref. I. ii. 73 This voidance of so many bishopricks happened well for the furthering of the reformation of religion. 1766 Entick London IV. 126 The parishioners present twice and the king once in three voidances. 1899 J. Vincent 1st Bp. Bath & Wells 10 How could the occasion arise, except by the voidance of the See? 1909 Westm. Gaz. 10 March 5/1 By an Order in Council the lectureship attached to the parish church of Dedham..will be merged in the benefice at the next voidance. |
4. Annulment; = avoidance 2.
| 1488 Rolls of Parlt. VI. 419/1 This Acte of Adnullacion or Voidans of Lettres Patentes. 1691–8 Norris Pract. Disc. (1711) III. 105, I have argued against the Voidance, and for the Establishment of the Law upon Rational Principles. 1736 Col. Rec. Pennsylv. IV. 177 The first part of those Proposals..directly infers a Voidance of the Agreement. 1756 Monitor No. 30. I. 276 There are men who blush not to promote a voidance of that part of the same act. 1884 Law Times 19 Jan. 205/1 It was held that the purchaser was not entitled in equity to obtain a voidance of the contract. |
† 5. A verbal evasion or subterfuge; an evasive answer or argument. Obs.—1
| 1621 Bacon Lett. (1734) 137 Therefore I am resolved, when I come to my answer, not to trick my innocency..by cavillations, or voydances, but to speak to them the language that my heart speaketh to me. |
† 6. concr. Matter voided or cleared away; the clearings of a table. Obs.—1
| 1740 Propos. Prov. Poor 6 Bones and other Voidance of the Table, Dish-water. |