plague
Listen:Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
plague/pleɪɡ/
▶noun
- 1 a contagious bacterial disease characterized by fever and delirium, typically with the formation of buboes (see bubonic plague) and sometimes infection of the lungs (pneumonic plague).
- 2 an unusually large number of insects or animals infesting and causing damage to a place: a plague of locusts.
■ pester or harass continually.
– origin ME: L. plaga ‘stroke, wound’, prob. from Gk (Doric dial.) plaga, from a base meaning ‘strike’.
'plague' also found in these Oxford entries:
bubonic plague
- fowl pest
- fowl plague
- lazaretto
- lues
- murrain
- pest
- pest-house
- pestilence
- pestilent
- rinderpest
- ring-a-ring o' roses
