See Also: plague(1)(dictionary)
Plague(medicine)
plague(encyclopedia)
plague(2)(dictionary)
Plague(health)
pulmonic plague(medicine)
pneumonic plague(medicine)
plague vaccine(medicine)
Great Plague(medicine)
plague septicaemia(medicine)

plague(1) (iou)



plague noun. LME.
[Latin plaga stroke, wound, pestilence, infection, prob. from Greek (Doric) plaga, (Attic) plege, from verb meaning 'strike' rel. to Latin plangere.]
A blow, a stroke; a wound. LME-M16.
a. An affliction, a calamity, a scourge, esp. when regarded as a divine punishment; spec. an unusual infestation of vermin, a pest, etc. LME.
Beano A plague of moths in the castle!
b. A thing causing trouble or irritation; a nuisance, a trouble; an annoying person, animal, etc. (Foll. by of, to.) Now colloq. M16.
a. An illness, a disease. LME-L17.
b. spec. An infectious, esp. contagious, disease spreading rapidly over a wide area with great mortality; a pestilence; spec. (freq. the plague) bubonic plague. M16.
a plague on , a plague upon , a plague take (joc. or arch.) expr. impatience, anger, or dismissiveness towards someone or something. avoid like the plague avoid at all costs, shun completely. BUBONIC plague. white plague: see WHITE adjective.
Daily Telegraph Plague has broken out in..northern China and is spreading.
Comb.: plague-flea any of several fleas, esp. Xenopsylla cheopsis, which transmit the plague bacillus, Yersinia pestis, from rats to humans; plague-house a house marked as having inmates infected with the plague; plague pipe Hist. a small clay pipe in which tobacco etc. was smoked as a supposed disinfectant against the plague; plague pit a deep pit for the common burial of plague victims; plague-rat a rat carrying plague; plague spot (a) a spot on the skin caused by or characteristic of the plague; (b) a spot or locality infected with plague; plague-water an infusion of various herbs and roots in purified alcohol, giving supposed protection against the plague.
plagueless adjective (rare) M19.
plaguesome adjective (colloq., now rare) troublesome, annoying, confounded E19.
plaguesomeness noun M19.