a. and sb. Forms: 3–6 vacaunt (5 vacavnt), 4– vacant, 5–7 vacante. [a. OF. (also mod.F.) vacant (= It., Sp., Pg. vacante), or ad. L. vacant-, vacans, pres. pple. of vacāre to be empty, etc.: cf. prec. In early senses the evidence is scanty until the latter part of the 16th century or later.]
A. adj. 1. Of a benefice, office, position, etc.: Not filled, held, or occupied; in respect of which a successor to the previous incumbent or holder has not been appointed.
Freq. of ecclesiastical benefices (see first group of quots.).
(a) c. 1290. S. Eng. Leg., I. 72/51. Þe bischopriche of wiricestre vacaunt was and lere.
1338. R. Brunne, Chron. (1810), 110. Þer Steuen … suore, Þat if a bisshopriche vacant wer þe se, Þe kyng, no non of his, suld chalange þat of fe.
1560. Daus, trans. Sleidane’s Comm., 237 b. Many churches lye vacant.
1577. Holinshed, Chron., I. 223/1. The Pope had accursed the english people, bicause they suffred the Bishops seas to be vacant so long a time.
1611. in 10th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm., App. I. 546. There hath fallen vacant a benefice annexed to ye vicariat.
1671. J. Davies (title), The Ceremonies of the Vacant See: ora True Relation of what passes at Rome upon the Pope’s Death.
1803. Nelson, Lett. to R. Suckling, 23 March. Mr. Horace Suckling … is very anxious that you should present him to the vacant living.
1849. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., vi. II. 95. The archbishopric of York was vacant.
1887. New York Independent, 8 Sept., 16. One sixth of its churches are ‘vacant,’ meaning of course, without pastors.
(b) 1432–50. trans. Higden (Rolls), IV. 381. That he myȝhte haue reioycede an oþer tetrarchye, beenge vacante þat tyme.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 507/2. Vacavnt, not occupyyd, vacans.
1560. Daus, trans. Sleidane’s Comm., 303 b. Yet hath no man hetherto desyred the same places … as common & vacant to be geven them.
1607. Shaks., Timon, V. i. 145. Speciall Dignities, which vacant lye For thy best vse and wearing.
1681. Prideaux, Lett. (Camden), 87. You may be assured yt as soon as this or any other place is vacant you shall be put in into it.
1805. Med. Jrnl., XIV. 192. Dr. Arneman … has undertaken to superintend the foreign department of the Medical and Physical Journal, vacant by the decease of the late Dr. Noehden.
1849. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., x. II. 634. If the throne was vacant the Estates of the Realm might place William in it.
1907. Verney Mem., I. 115. Three places had fallen vacant.
† b. Const. of (an incumbent or holder). rare.
1297. R. Glouc. (Rolls), 9697. Þe vifte was þat bissopriches & abbeies al so Þat vacauns were of prelas in þe kinges hond were ido.
1432–50. trans. Higden (Rolls), II. 109. Northumbrelonde was vacante of a kynge viijthe yeres.
† c. Having no owner or possessor. Obs.
1560. Daus, trans. Sleidane’s Comm., 16. The goodes of the Empire, whiche shall chaunce to be vacant, he shall geve away to no man.
1730. Bailey (fol.), Vacant Effects (in Law) are such as are abandoned for want of an Heir, after the Death or Flight of their former Owner.
2. Devoid of all material contents or accessories; containing, or occupied by, nothing; unfilled, empty, void.
a. 1400–50. Alexander, 4774. For, fra it droȝe to þe derke ay till it dawid eftir, It was bot vacant & voide as vanite it were.
c. 1450. Godstow Reg., 417. [One voide place of ther owne lond. Ibid.] The forsaid vacant place of lond.
1634–5. Brereton, Trav. (Chetham Soc.), 15. In the middle a square vacant place, wherein the moulded brick is disposed.
1671. Milton, Samson, 89. The Moon, When she deserts the night, Hid in her vacant interlunar cave.
1730–46. Thomson, Autumn, 329. The billowy plain … floats wide; nor can evade … its [the blast’s] seizing force; Or whirl’d in air, or into vacant chaff Shook waste.
1753. Hogarth, Anal. Beauty, 8. The vacant space within the shell. Ibid., 91. It fills up the vacant angle under the arm.
1791. Cowper, Iliad, XXIII. 472. Instant to his aid The Goddess hasted, to his vacant hand His whip restored.
1817. Jas. Mill, Brit. India, II. V. ix. 714. From that very moment, complaint was extinguished; and the voice of praise … occupied the vacant air.
1858. Glenny, Everyday Bk., 76/2. All the plants that are strong enough … may be planted in vacant places.
transf. a. 1822. Shelley, Death, i. 6. All dead! those vacant names alone … remain.
1875. Jowett, Plato (ed. 2), IV. 233. Philosophy was becoming more and more vacant and abstract.
b. Devoid of an occupant; not taken up by any one. Also fig.
1599. Shaks., Much Ado, I. i. 304. But now … that warre-thoughts Haue left their places vacant, in their roomes Come [etc.].
1602. Marston, Ant. & Mel., II. i. There’s not a vacant corner of my heart, But all is fild with deade Antonios losse.
1667. Milton, P. L., VII. 190. In stead Of Spirits maligne a better Race to bring Into thir vacant room.
1713. Young, Last Day, III. 220. Satan’s accurs’d desertion to supply, And fill the vacant stations of the sky.
1780. Burke, Œcon. Reform., Wks. III. 279. The bleak winds … howling through the vacant lobbies, and clattering the doors of deserted guard-rooms.
1850. Tennyson, In Mem., xx. To see the vacant chair, and think ‘How good! how kind! and he is gone.’
1887. Ruskin, Præterita, II. 247. There was a spacious half of seat vacant in my little hooded carriage.
c. Of land, houses, etc.: Uninhabited, unoccupied, untenanted. Also, of a room: Not in use, disengaged.
1518. Star Chamber Cases (Selden), II. 146. About viij c howseholdes in the same Towne desolate, vacante, and decayed.
1610. Holland, Camden’s Brit., III. Let the old souldiers … enter upon the vacant lands.
1785. Paley, Mor. Philos. (1818), II. 383. The new settlers will naturally convert their labour to the cultivation of the vacant soil.
1847. Helps, Friends in C. (1851), I. 2. A house which had long been vacant in our neighbourhood.
1891. S. C. Scrivener, Our Fields & Cities, 140. There are at least a million and a-half acres likely to be vacant every autumn.
d. Marked or characterized by the absence of life, activity or sound.
1791. Cowper, Iliad, II. 68. Amid the stillness of the vacant night.
1850. Tennyson, In Mem., xxxiv. 16. To drop head-foremost in the jaws Of vacant darkness and to cease.
1894. Hall Caine, Manxman, III. iv. 136. Somewhere in the dead and vacant dawn Philip went to bed.
e. Of water: Free from ice; open.
1853. Kane, Grinnell Exp., x. (1856), 71. In the morning of the 7th, a large vacant sheet of water showed itself to the westward.
3. With of. Devoid or destitute of, entirely lacking or free from, something.
a. 1400–50. Alexander, 5116. We at ere voide ay of vice & vacant of syn.
a. 1450. trans. De Imitatione, III. xxxii. 101. If þe state of þe herte be vacant of a riȝt fundement.
1613. Shaks., Hen. VIII., V. i. 125. My person, which I waigh not, Being of those Vertues [truth and honesty] vacant.
1634. Milton, Comus, 718. That no corner might Be vacant of her [i.e., Nature’s] plenty.
1663. Bp. Patrick, Parab. Pilgr., xxxii. (1687), 391. A company of select friends, vacant of business, and full of chearfulness, met together at one table.
1751. Franklin, Essays, Wks. 1840, II. 319. Was the face of the earth vacant of other plants, it might be sowed and overspread with one kind only.
1784. R. Bage, Barham Downs, II. 7. The hour being vacant of business, he got upon his legs.
1842. Tennyson, Locksley Hall, 175. I, to herd with narrow foreheads, vacant of our glorious gains!
1910. Fairbairn, Stud. Rel. & Theol., II. II. ii. 292. How could men vacant of good have affinities with Him [etc.]?
ellipt. 1582. N. T. (Rheims), 2 Peter i. 8. They shal make you not vacant [L. vacuos], nor without fruite.
† b. Empty-handed; destitute. Obs. rare.
1430–40. Lydg., Bochas, IV. vi. (MS. Bodl. 263). They banished hym neuer to come agayne: And so this tiraunt, vacant, wente in veyn Aboute the world as a fals Fugityff.
1576. in Collier, Illustr. E. E. Pop. Lit., No. 16. 44. So that none of us went vacant away, But of one of the parties had honestly our paye.
4. Of time: Free from, unoccupied with, affairs, business, or customary work; leisure. Also const. from (an action or occupation)..
Freq. from c. 1550 to c. 1750; now Obs. or rare.
(a) 1531. Elyot, Gov., I. viii. Puttyng one to hym … in vacant tymes from other more serious lernynge. Ibid., xviii. Alexander, in tymes vacaunt from bataile, delyted in that maner huntinge.
a. 1548. Hall, Chron., Rich. III. (1550), 34. Such euyl persones as wyl not leue one houre vacant from doyng and exercysing crucltie.
1631. Byfield, Doctr. Sabb., 80. Feriarum, that is, dayes vacant from pleading and labour.
(b) 1548. Udall, etc., Erasm. Par. Luke xiv. He wil with good laisure at a vacaunt time sitte down [etc.].
1593. G. Harvey, Pierces Super., To Rdr. Such scriblings are hardly worth the vacantest howers.
1605. Bacon, Adv. Learn., I. ii. § 7. The most active or busy man that hath been or can be, hath … many vacant times of leisure.
1631. Gouge, God’s Arrows, V. § 9. 419. Vacant houres cannot better be spent then in the Artillery Garden.
1712. Addison, Spect., No. 471, ¶ 3. The Memory relieves the Mind in her vacant Moments.
1781. Gibbon, Decl. & F., xviii. (1787), II. 104. Chosroes … consumed his vacant hours in the rural sports of hunting and hawking.
1805. T. Lindley, Voy. Brasil, 34. Both sexes do it [i.e., searching each other’s heads for vermin] indiscriminately, particularly the females, who fill up their vacant hours with this elegant amusement.
1815. Jane Austen, Emma, I. iii. 35. Any vacant evening of his own blank solitude.
† b. Of persons: Not engaged or employed in (one’s usual or regular) occupation or work; disengaged or free from labor or toil; at leisure; also, having nothing or little to do. Obs.
(a) 1600. Palfreyman, Bauldwin’s Mor. Philos., I. xliv. 28. When he was vacant from his labor, he wold write most eloquent … Comodies.
a. 1628. Preston, New Covt. (1634), 152. Those that are vacant from such things are at rest.
(b) 1631. Byfield, Doctr. Sabb., 154. They may be vacant as Christians.
1671. Milton, P. R., II. 116. For Satan with slye preface to return Had left him vacant.
1697. Potter, Antiq. Greece, I. xxvi. (1715), 158. If he can produce any vacant Person richer than himself.
a. 1763. Shenstone, Elegies, xix. 4. Another spring renews the soldier’s toil, And finds me vacant in the rural cave.
1782. Encycl. Brit. (ed. 2), IX. 6933/2. In such excursions those vacant people [Laplanders] find a luxurious and ready repast in these fish.
absol. 1753. Smollett, Ct. Fathom, Ded. To instruct the ignorant, and entertain the vacant.
c. Characterized by, arising or proceeding from, absence of occupation, leisure, or idleness; undisturbed by business or work.
1615. Sandys, Trav., 256. Here vacant Life, here Peace her empire keepes.
1630. Wotton, Lett. (1907), II. 332. A great natural principle, that the vacantest thoughts are everywhere the worst.
1662. Gunning, Lent Fast, 202. A season of vacant attendance on fasting and prayer.
1766. Goldsm., Vicar, v. Every morning waked us to a repetition of toil; but the evening repaid it with vacant hilarity.
1777. Macpherson, Ossian, Introd. 10. That poetical enthusiasm, which is better suited to a vacant and indolent state.
1866. R. Chambers, Ess. Fam. & Hum., Ser. II. 89. An idle and vacant life … is not calculated to be a happy one.
d. At leisure to devote oneself to some object. Also of things, open or accessible to some influence, etc. Now rare or Obs.
1631. Byfield, Doctr. Sabb., 151. How much more ought Christians to bee vacant to God alone on the Lords day?
1660. H. More, Myst. Godl., V. xiv. 172. Grotius,… who by reason of his Political emploiments could not be so entirely vacant to the searching into so abstruse a Mystery.
1685. Baxter, Paraphr. N. T., 1 Tim. v. 13. Those that are taken up with Family Business of their own are not so vacant and liable to these Crimes.
1751. Johnson, Rambler, No. 111, ¶ 5. When the heart is vacant to every fresh form of delight. Ibid. (1763), Lett. to Boswell, 8 Dec. Vacant to every object, and sensible of every impulse.
1838. Sir J. Stephen, Eccl. Ess., II. 184. So long as they shall be vacant to record … contrite reminiscences of a desire for roasted goose.
† e. At leisure for something. Obs.–1
1647. Clarendon, Hist. Reb., VIII. § 147. Sir John Berkely,… who was the more vacant for that service by the reduction of Barnstable.
5. Of the mind or brain: Devoid of or unoccupied with thought or reflection. Chiefly poet.
1579. Spenser, Sheph. Cal., Oct., 100. The vaunted verse a vacant head demaundes, Ne wont with crabbed care the Muses dwell.
1599. Shaks., Hen. V., IV. i. 286. The wretched Slaue: Who with a body fill’d and vacant mind, Gets him to rest.
1770. Goldsm., Des. Vill., 122. The loud laugh that spoke the vacant mind.
1781. Cowper, Retirem., 624. Absence of occupation is not rest, A mind quite vacant is a mind distress’d.
1818. Miss Ferrier, Marriage, xv. The demon of ennui again took possession of her vacant mind.
1855. Tennyson, Daisy, 106. Perchance, to lull the throbs of pain, Perchance, to charm a vacant brain.
† b. Abstracted or disengaged from (the body, etc.) in contemplation or reverie. Obs.–1
1680. H. More, Apocal. Apoc., 5. I was in the spirit on the Lord’s day,… my mind being vacant from this earthly body, and external senses.
† c. Free from care or anxiety. Obs. rare.
a. 1639. Wotton, in Reliq. (1685), 171. The Duke … even in the midst of so many diversions, had continually a very pleasant and vacant face (as I may well call it) proceeding no doubt from a singular assurance in his temper.
1723. Steele, Conscious Lovers, II. i. Why so much Care in thy Countenance?… You, who used to be so Gay, so Open, so Vacant!
6. Characterized by, exhibiting, or proceeding from, absence of intelligence or thought; expressionless, meaningless; inane.
1712. Steele, Spect., No. 515, ¶ 4. The vacant look of a fine Lady is not to be preserved, if she admits any thing to take up her Thoughts but her own dear Person.
1780. Cowper, Progr. Error, 205. Yet folly ever has a vacant stare.
1819. Shelley, Cenci, III. i. 277. Let me mask Mine own [looks] in some inane and vacant smile.
1830. J. G. Strutt, Sylva Brit., 31. The loud laugh of the woodpecker, joyous and vacant.
1841. G. P. R. James, Brigand, i. His eyes gazed upon the scene, but with somewhat of a vacant aspect.
1878. B. Taylor, Deukalion, II. i. 56. Vacant are thine eyes, Cold thine insulted brow and mute thy lips.
b. Empty-headed, unthinking. rare.
1879. Froude, Cæsar, xii. 163. Metellus was a vacant aristocrat, to be depended on for resisting popular demands, but without insight otherwise.
7. Comb., as vacant-looking, -minded adjs.; vacant-heartedness, -mindedness.
1796. Mme. D’Arblay, Camilla, III. 219. We all heard he was engaged to your beautiful vacant-looking cousin.
1846. Mrs. Gore, Eng. Char. (1852). 49. If they have formerly figured as beauties, the fickle voice of fashion now proclaims that they are ‘pretty, certainly, but silly and vacant-looking.’
1879. Howells, L. Aroostook, xviii. Her frivolity—her not so much vacant-mindedness as vacant-heartedness.
1883. J. Mackenzie, Day-dawn Dark Places, 272. I have been saddened by the vacant-minded pupil.
B. sb. † 1. Sc. A vacant estate. Obs.–1
c. 1475. Rauf Coilȝear, 758. And als the nixt vacant … That hapnis in France, quhair sa euer it fall, Forfaltour or fre waird … I gif the heir heritabilly.
† 2. One who has held office but is for the time being unemployed or in retirement Obs. rare.
1602. Segar, Hon. Mil. & Civ., IV. xxi. [236. These diuers degrees were in the Emperiall Court called Administrantes, Vacantes, and Honorarii. Ibid.] 237. Note likewise that the Officers whom we call Vacants are of two sorts.
† 3. pl. A vacation. Obs.–1
1647. May, Hist. Parl., I. iii. 35. The next Terme, after the ordinary vacants, to be held at the Burgh of Dendie.
† 4. poet. A vacant space; a vacuum. Obs. rare.
1712. Blackmore, Creation, V. 248. Ready by Turns to rise or to descend, Nature against a Vacant to defend. Ibid., VII. 355. Thou in the Vacant didst the Earth suspend.
Hence † Vacant v. a. trans. To render vacant, in various senses; to vacate. b. intr. To take a vacation. Obs. rare.
1649. Rainbow, Funeral Serm., 29 May, 30. She applyed her self vigorously to the setling of all things, which concerned the secular affairs of her Family, that so she might totally and wholly be vacanted to God.
1674. [Z. Cawdrey], Catholicon, 18. Which Sacredness they know may be presently vacanted by the Prevalency of a greater opposite Power.
1752. Scotland’s Glory, 57. for getting Yule kept up Our highest courts vacanted.
