Emily Dickinson Lexicon

BLIGHT, n. [Qu. Sax. blæctha, scurf, leprosy.]

1. A disease incident to plants, affecting them variously. Sometimes the whole plant perishes; sometimes only the leaves and blossoms, which will shrivel, as if scorched.
2. Any thing nipping or blasting. In America, I have often heard a cutaneous eruption on the human skin called by the name of blights.