Standard Lemma guide
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.
verb
avaunt; begone; go away; leave!
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: archaic, imperative, transitive
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
to dispel; to send away.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: archaic
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
History
Uncertain, and subject to various attempts to connect it to multiple Germanic and Romance etymons; first attested in the First Folio, and sometimes posited to be an error for anoint, referring to a witch’s supposed flight-facilitating ointment, and thus being a commandment for her to anele herself and fly away; also said to be taken from the phrase rowan tree, thought to dispel witches.
