Victuals is the origin of “vittles”.
I’ve looked up the dictionary definition of vitiates before, lemme try again.
https://www.dictionary.com/browse/vitiate
verb (used with object), vi·ti·at·ed, vi·ti·at·ing.
to impair the quality of; make faulty; spoil.
to impair or weaken the effectiveness of.
to debase; corrupt; pervert.
to make legally defective or invalid; invalidate:
to vitiate a claim.
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/vitiate
Definition of vitiate
transitive verb
1: to make faulty or defective : IMPAIR
the comic impact is vitiated by obvious haste
— William Styron
2: to debase in moral or aesthetic status
a mind vitiated by prejudice
3: to make ineffective
fraud vitiates a contract
https://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/vitiate
Vitiate
To impair or make void; to destroy or annul, either completely or partially, the force and effect of an act or instrument.
Mutual mistake or Fraud, for example, might vitiate a contract.
West’s Encyclopedia of American Law, edition 2. Copyright 2008 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
vitiate to destroy the force or legal effect of, for example, a deed.
Collins Dictionary of Law © W.J. Stewart, 2006
Thanks.
I stand...
Exactly right. Sounds kind of silly to think “Fraud vitiates everything” would mean “Fraud eats everything”.
“Vitiates” and “victuals” do sound a lot alike, though, so a lot of people get them and their meanings mixed up. Thanks for straightening that out!