See Also: murrain(medicine)
murrain(dictionary)

murrain (iou)



murrain noun & adjective. ME.
[Anglo-Norman moryn, Old & mod. French morine, moraine, from stem of mourir, morir, from Proto-Romance alt. of Latin mori die.]
A. noun.
(A) plague, (a) pestilence, esp. the potato blight during the Irish famine in the mid 19th cent. Formerly freq. in imprecations and exclamations. arch. ME.
O. Nash A murrain on every bridesmaid and every usher!
An infectious disease of livestock; spec. babesiosis. LME.
Flesh of animals killed by disease; dead flesh, carrion. LME-E17.
Death, mortality, esp. by plague or pestilence. Also (rare), slaughter. LME-M17.
B. adjective. Ill-conditioned; contemptible; excessive. L16-E18.
murrained adjective killed by murrain; infected with murrain: E19.