\Va"can*cy\, n.; pl. {Vacancies}. [Cf. F. vacance.]
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.