Dictionary

avoid

-verb

1. (transitive) To keep away from; to keep clear of; to endeavor not to meet; to shun; to abstain from; as, to avoid the company of gamesters.
2. (transitive) (law) 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.
3. (transitive) (obsolete) To empty.
4. (transitive) (obsolete) To emit or throw out; to void; as, to avoid excretions.
5. (transitive) (obsolete) To quit or evacuate; to withdraw from.
6. (transitive) (obsolete) To make void; to annul or vacate; to refute (esp. a contract).
7. (transitive) (obsolete) To get rid of.
8. (intransitive) (obsolete) To retire; to withdraw.
9. (intransitive) (obsolete) To become void or vacant.