WordWeight : Weighing the Words

Pronunciation : Va"can*cy
Part of Speech : n.;
Etymology : [Cf. F. vacance.]
Definition : 1. The quality or state of being vacant; emptiness; hence, freedom from employment; intermission; leisure; idleness; listlessness. All dispositions to idleness or vacancy, even before they are habits, are dangerous. Sir H. Wotton.

2. That which is vacant. Specifically: -- (a) Empty space; vacuity; vacuum. How is't with you, That you do bend your eye on vacancy Shak.

(b) An open or unoccupied space between bodies or things; an interruption of continuity; chasm; gap; as, a vacancy between buildings; a vacancy between sentences or thoughts. (c) Unemployed time; interval of leisure; time of intermission; vacation. Time lost partly in too oft idle vacancies given both to schools and universities. Milton. No interim, not a minute's vacancy. Shak. Those little vacancies from toil are sweet. Dryden.

(d) A place or post unfilled; an unoccupied office; as, a vacancy in the senate, in a school, etc.

pl. Vacancies.
Source : Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913