plague
(plāg)
[Middle English plage, blow, calamity, plague, from Late Latin plāga, from Latin, blow, wound, V., Middle English plaghen, from Middle Dutch, from plaghe, plague, from Late Latin plāga.]
noun
- A widespread affliction or calamity, especially one seen as divine retribution.
- A sudden destructive influx or injurious outbreak: a plague of locusts; a plague of accidents.
- A cause of annoyance; a nuisance: “the plague of social jabbering” (George Santayana)
- A highly infectious, usually fatal, epidemic disease; a pestilence.
- A highly fatal infectious disease that is caused by the bacterium Yersinia (syn. Pasturella ) pestis, is transmitted primarily by the bite of a rat flea, and occurs in bubonic, pneumonic, and septicemic forms.
transitive verb: plagued, plagu·ing, plagues.
- To pester or annoy persistently or incessantly. See synonyms at harass
- To afflict with or as if with a disease or calamity: “Runaway inflation further plagued the wage- or salary-earner” (Edwin O. Reischauer)
derivatives
- plagúer
- noun
