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Plaguing

 - 6 dictionary results

plague

  [pleyg] noun, verb, plagued, pla⋅guing.
Use Plaguing in a Sentence
–noun
1. an epidemic disease that causes high mortality; pestilence.
2. an infectious, epidemic disease caused by a bacterium, Yersinia pestis, characterized by fever, chills, and prostration, transmitted to humans from rats by means of the bites of fleas. Compare bubonic plague, pneumonic plague, septicemic plague.
3. any widespread affliction, calamity, or evil, esp. one regarded as a direct punishment by God: a plague of war and desolation.
4. any cause of trouble, annoyance, or vexation: Uninvited guests are a plague.
–verb (used with object)
5. to trouble, annoy, or torment in any manner: The question of his future plagues him with doubt.
6. to annoy, bother, or pester: Ants plagued the picnickers.
7. to smite with a plague, pestilence, death, etc.; scourge: those whom the gods had plagued.
8. to infect with a plague; cause an epidemic in or among: diseases that still plague the natives of Ethiopia.
9. to afflict with any evil: He was plagued by allergies all his life.
Origin:
1350–1400; ME plage < L plāga stripe, wound, LL: pestilence

Related forms:
plaguer, noun

Synonyms:
4. nuisance, bother, torment. 6. harass, vex, harry, hector, fret, worry, badger, irritate, disturb. See bother.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To Plaguing
plague   (plāg)   
n.  

  1. A widespread affliction or calamity, especially one seen as divine retribution.

  2. A sudden destructive influx or injurious outbreak: a plague of locusts; a plague of accidents.

  3. A cause of annoyance; a nuisance: "the plague of social jabbering" (George Santayana).

    1. A highly infectious, usually fatal, epidemic disease; a pestilence.

    2. 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.

tr.v.   plagued, plagu·ing, plagues

  1. To pester or annoy persistently or incessantly. See Synonyms at harass.

  2. To afflict with or as if with a disease or calamity: "Runaway inflation further plagued the wage- or salary-earner" (Edwin O. Reischauer).


[Middle English plage, blow, calamity, plague, from Late Latin plāga, from Latin, blow, wound; see plāk-2 in Indo-European roots. V., Middle English plaghen, from Middle Dutch, from plaghe, plague, from Late Latin plāga.]
plagu'er n.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Cultural Dictionary

plague [(playg)]

A highly contagious disease, such as bubonic plague, that spreads quickly throughout a population and causes widespread sickness and death.

Note: The term is also used to refer to widespread outbreaks of many kinds, such as a “plague of locusts.”
The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Cite This Source
Word Origin & History

plague  (n.)
1382, "affliction, calamity, evil, scourge," also "malignant disease," from M.Fr. plague, from L.L. plaga, used in Vulgate for "pestilence," from L. plaga "stroke, wound," probably from root of plangere "to strike, lament (by beating the breast)," from or cognate with Gk. (Doric) plaga "blow," from PIE *plag- "hit" (cf. O.E. flocan "to strike, beat," Goth. flokan "to bewail," Ger. fluchen, O.Fris. floka "to curse"). O.Ir. plag (gen. plaige) "plague, pestilence" is from L. Specifically in ref. to "bubonic plague" from 1601. The verb is from 1481; in the sense of "bother, annoy" it is first recorded 1594. Plaguey "vexatious" is attested from 1615.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Medical Dictionary

Main Entry: plague
Pronunciation: 'plAg
Function: noun
1 : an epidemic disease causing a high rate of mortality : PESTILENCE plague of cholera>
2 : a virulent contagious febrile disease that is caused by abacterium of the genus Yersinia (Y. pestis syn. Pasteurella pestis), that occurs in bubonic, pneumonic, and septicemic forms, and that is usually transmitted from rats to humans bythe bite of infected fleas (as in bubonic plague) or directly from person to person (as in pneumonic plague) called also black death
Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary, © 2002 Merriam-Webster, Inc.
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Medical Dictionary

plague (plāg)
n.
A highly infectious, usually fatal, epidemic disease, especially bubonic plague.

The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
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