pestilence : Dictionary / Wörterbuch (BEOLINGUS, TU Chemnitz)

English Dictionary: pestilence	by the DICT Development Group
2 results for pestilence
From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]:
pestilence n a serious (sometimes fatal) infection of rodents caused by Yersinia pestis and accidentally transmitted to humans by the bite of a flea that has bitten an infected animal Synonym(s): plague, pestilence, pest, pestis any epidemic disease with a high death rate Synonym(s): plague, pestilence, pest a pernicious and malign influence that is hard to get rid of; "racism is a pestilence at the heart of the nation"; "according to him, I was the canker in their midst" Synonym(s): pestilence, canker
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]:
Pestilence \Pes"tilence\, n. [F. pestilence, L. pestilentia. See {Pestilent}.] 1. Specifically, the disease known as the plague; hence, any contagious or infectious epidemic disease that is virulent and devastating. The pestilence* That walketh in darkness. --Ps. xci. 6. 2. Fig.: That which is pestilent, noxious, or pernicious to the moral character of great numbers. I'll pour this pestilence into his ear. --Shak. {Pestilence weed} (Bot.), the butterbur coltsfoot ({Petasites vulgaris}), so called because formerly considered a remedy for the plague. --Dr. Prior.