late 14c., "shun (someone), refrain from (something), have nothing to do with (an action, a scandal, etc.), escape, evade," from Anglo-French avoider "to clear out, withdraw (oneself)," partially Englished from Old French esvuidier "to empty out," from es- "out" (see ex-) + vuidier "to be empty," from voide "empty, vast, wide, hollow, waste," from Latin vocivos "unoccupied, vacant," related to vacare "be empty" (from PIE *wak-, extended form of root *eue- "to leave, abandon, give out").

In Middle English with a wide range of meanings now obsolete: "to empty, rid, take out, remove, discharge from the body, send away; eject or banish; destroy, erase; depart from or abandon, go away." The current sense corresponds to Old French eviter with which it perhaps was confused. Related: Avoided; avoiding.

"ravage, act of devastating; state of being devastated," mid-15c., from Medieval Latin devastationem (nominative devastatio), noun of action from past-participle stem of Latin devastare "lay waste completely," from de- "completely" (see de-) + vastare "lay waste," from vastus "empty, desolate," from PIE *wasto-, extended suffixed form of root *eue- "to leave, abandon, give out."

"destitute, not possessing, lacking" (with of), c. 1400, shortening of devoided, past participle of obsolete Middle English verb devoiden "to remove, void, vacate" (c. 1300), from Old French desvuidier (12c., Modern French dévider) "to empty out, flush game from, unwind, let loose (an arrow)," from des- "out, away" (see dis-) + voider "to empty," from voide "empty," from Latin vocivos "unoccupied, vacant," related to vacare "be empty," from PIE *wak-, extended form of root *eue- "to leave, abandon, give out."

1520s (trans.), from Latin evacuatus, past participle of evacuare "to empty, make void, nullify," used by Pliny in reference to the bowels, used figuratively in Late Latin for "clear out;" from assimilated form of ex- "out" (see ex-) + vacuus "empty," from PIE *wak-, extended form of root *eue- "to leave, abandon, give out."

Earliest sense in English is medical. Military use is by 1710. Meaning "remove inhabitants to safer ground" is from 1934. Intransitive sense is from 1630s; of civilian persons by 1900. Replaced Middle English evacuen "draw off or expel (humors) from the body" (c. 1400). Related: Evacuated; evacuating.

1717, "on the point of becoming imperceptible," from French évanescent, from Latin evanescentem (nominative evanescens), present participle of evanescere "disappear, vanish, pass away," figuratively "be forgotten, be wasted," from assimilated form of ex "out" (see ex-) + vanescere "vanish," inchoative verb from vanus "empty, void" (from PIE *wano-, suffixed form of root *eue- "to leave, abandon, give out"). Sense of "quickly vanishing, having no permanence" is by 1738.

c. 1300, "not filled, held, or occupied," from Old French vacant "idle, unoccupied" (of an office, etc.), from Latin vacantem (nominative vacans), "empty, unoccupied," present participle of vacare "be empty" (from PIE *wak-, extended form of root *eue- "to leave, abandon, give out"). Meaning "characterized by absence of mental occupation" is from 1570s. Related: Vacantly.

1640s, "to make void, to annul," from Latin vacatus, past participle of vacare "be empty, be void," from PIE *wak-, extended form of root *eue- "to leave, abandon, give out." Meaning "to leave, give up, quit" (a place) is attested from 1791. Related: Vacated; vacating.

late 14c., "freedom from obligations, leisure, release" (from some activity or occupation), from Old French vacacion "vacancy, vacant position" (14c.) and directly from Latin vacationem (nominative vacatio) "leisure, freedom, exemption, a being free from duty, immunity earned by service," noun of state from past-participle stem of vacare "be empty, free, or at leisure," from PIE *wak-, extended form of root *eue- "to leave, abandon, give out."

Meanings "state of being unoccupied," "process of vacating" in English are early 15c. Meaning "formal suspension of activity, time in which there is an intermission of usual employment" (in reference to schools, courts, etc.) is recorded from mid-15c. As the U.S. equivalent of what in Britain is called a holiday, it is attested from 1878.

late 14c., "hollow space," from Latin vacuitas "empty space, emptiness, absence, vacancy, freedom," from vacuus "empty," from PIE *wak-, extended form of root *eue- "to leave, abandon, give out." Originally in anatomy. Meaning "vacancy of mind or thought" is attested from 1590s.

"small cavity or vesicle," 1853, from French vacuole, from Medieval Latin vacuola, formed as a diminutive of Latin vacuus "empty," from PIE *wak-, extended form of root *eue- "to leave, abandon, give out."