Part 468

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An irregularity and instability of purpose, which makes them choose the wandering avocations of a shepherd, rather than the more fixed pursuits of agriculture. Buckle.

A*vo"ca*tive (*v"k*tv), a. Calling off. [Obs.]

A*vo"ca*tive, n. That which calls aside; a dissuasive.

{ Av"o*cet, Av"o*set } (v"*st), n. [F. avocette: cf. It. avosetta, Sp. avoceta.] (Zoöl.) A grallatorial bird, of the genus Recurvirostra; the scooper. The bill is long and bend upward toward the tip. The American species is R. Americana. [Written also avocette.]

A*void" (&?;), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Avoided; p. pr. & vb. n. Avoiding.] [OF. esvuidier, es (L. ex) + vuidier, voidier, to empty. See Void, a.] 1. To empty. [Obs.] Wyclif.

2. To emit or throw out; to void; as, to avoid excretions. [Obs.] Sir T. Browne.

3. To quit or evacuate; to withdraw from. [Obs.]

Six of us only stayed, and the rest avoided the room. Bacon.

4. To make void; to annul or vacate; to refute.

How can these grants of the king's be avoided? Spenser.

5. To keep away from; to keep clear of; to endeavor no to meet; to shun; to abstain 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.

He carefully avoided every act which could goad them into open hostility. Macaulay.

6. To get rid of. [Obs.] Shak.

7. (Pleading) To defeat or evade; to invalidate. Thus, in a replication, the plaintiff may deny the defendant's plea, or confess it, and avoid it by stating new matter. Blackstone.

Syn. -- To escape; elude; evade; eschew. -- To Avoid, Shun. Avoid in its commonest sense means, to keep clear of, an extension of the meaning, to withdraw one's self from. It denotes care taken not to come near or in contact; as, to avoid certain persons or places. Shun is a stronger term, implying more prominently the idea of intention. The words may, however, in many cases be interchanged.

No man can pray from his heart to be kept from temptation, if the 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.

A*void", v. i. 1. To retire; to withdraw. [Obs.]

David avoided out of his presence. 1 Sam. xviii. 11.

2. (Law) To become void or vacant. [Obs.] Ayliffe.

A*void"a*ble (&?;), a. 1. Capable of being vacated; liable to be annulled or made invalid; voidable.

The charters were not avoidable for the king's nonage. Hale.

2. Capable of being avoided, shunned, or escaped.

A*void"ance (&?;), n. 1. The act of annulling; annulment.

2. The act of becoming vacant, or the state of being vacant; -- specifically used for the state of a benefice becoming void by the death, deprivation, or resignation of the incumbent.

Wolsey, . . . on every avoidance of St. Peter's chair, was sitting down therein, when suddenly some one or other clapped in before him. Fuller.