quarantine definition | Dictionary.com

quar⋅an⋅tine

[kwawr-uh

n-teen, kwor-, kwawr-uh

n-teen, kwor-]

noun, verb, -tined, -tin⋅ing.

–noun

1.	a strict isolation imposed to prevent the spread of disease.

2.	a period, originally 40 days, of detention or isolation imposed upon ships, persons, animals, or plants on arrival at a port or place, when suspected of carrying some infectious or contagious disease.

3.	a system of measures maintained by governmental authority at ports, frontiers, etc., for preventing the spread of disease.

4.	the branch of the governmental service concerned with such measures.

5.	a place or station at which such measures are carried out, as a special port or dock where ships are detained.

6.	the detention or isolation enforced.

7.	the place, esp. a hospital, where people are detained.

8.	a period of 40 days.

9.	social, political, or economic isolation imposed as a punishment, as in ostracizing an individual or enforcing sanctions against a foreign state.

–verb (used with object)

10.	to put in or subject to quarantine.

11.	to exclude, detain, or isolate for political, social, or hygienic reasons.

Origin:
1600–10; < It quarantina, var. of quarantena, orig. Upper It (Venetian): period of forty days, group of forty, deriv. of quaranta forty ≪ L quadrāgintā

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

quar·an·tine (kwôr'ən-tēn', kwŏr'-) Pronunciation Key
n.

1. A period of time during which a vehicle, person, or material suspected of carrying a contagious disease is detained at a port of entry under enforced isolation to prevent disease from entering a country.
2. A place for such detention.
Enforced isolation or restriction of free movement imposed to prevent the spread of contagious disease.
A condition of enforced isolation.
A period of 40 days.

tr.v. quar·an·tined, quar·an·tin·ing, quar·an·tines

To isolate in or as if in quarantine.
To isolate politically or economically.

[Italian quarantina, from quaranta (giorni), forty (days), from Latin quadrāgintā; see k^wetwer- in Indo-European roots.]
quar'an·tin'a·ble adj.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
quarantine

1523, "period of 40 days in which a widow has the right to remain in her dead husband's house." Earlier (15c.), "desert in which Christ fasted for 40 days," from L. quadraginta "forty," related to quattuor "four" (see quart). Sense of "period a ship suspected of carrying disease is kept in isolation" is 1663, from It. quarantina giorni, lit. "space of forty days," from quaranta "forty," from L. quadraginta. So called from the Venetian custom of keeping ships from plague-stricken countries waiting off its port for 40 days (first enforced at Ragusa in 1377). The extended sense of "any period of isolation" is from 1680.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This

quarantine
noun
1.	enforced isolation of patients suffering from a contagious disease in order to prevent the spread of disease
2.	isolation to prevent the spread of infectious disease
verb
1.	place into enforced isolation, as for medical reasons; "My dog was quarantined before he could live in England"

WordNet® 3.0, © 2006 by Princeton University.
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American Heritage New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition - Cite This Source - Share This
quarantine [(kwawr-uhn-teen, kwahr-uhn-teen)]

The isolation of people who either have a contagious disease or have been exposed to one, in an attempt to prevent the spread of the disease.

Note: The term is sometimes used politically to designate the political and economic isolation of a nation in retribution for unacceptable policies: “When Iraq invaded Kuwait, it was placed in quarantine by the nations of the world.”

The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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American Heritage Stedman's Medical Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

quarantine quar·an·tine (kwôr'ən-tēn')
n.

A period of time during which a vehicle, person, or material suspected of carrying a contagious disease is detained at a port of entry under enforced isolation to prevent disease from entering a country.
A place for such detention.
Enforced isolation or restriction of free movement imposed to prevent the spread of contagious disease.
A condition of enforced isolation.
A period of 40 days.

v. quar·an·tined, quar·an·tin·ing, quar·an·tines
To isolate in or as if in quarantine.

Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
Main Entry: ¹quar·an·tine
Pronunciation: 'kwor-&n-"tEn, 'kwär-
Function: noun
1 a : a term during which a shiparriving in port and suspected of carrying contagious disease is held in isolation from the shore b : a regulation placing a ship in quarantine c : a place where aship is detained during quarantine
2 a : a restraint upon the activities or communication of persons or the transport of goods that is designed to prevent the spread of disease orpests b : a place in which those under quarantine are kept

Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
Main Entry: ²quarantine
Function: verb
Inflected Forms: -tined; -tin·ing
transitive senses
: to detain in or exclude byquarantine quarantine intransitive senses
: to establish or declare a quarantine

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Quarantine

Quar"an*tine\, n. [F. quarantaine, OF. quaranteine, fr. F. quarante forty, L. quadraginta, akin to quattuor four, and E. four: cf. It. quarantina, quarentine. See Four, and cf. Quadragesima.]

1. A space of forty days; -- used of Lent.

2. Specifically, the term, originally of forty days, during which a ship arriving in port, and suspected of being infected a malignant contagious disease, is obliged to forbear all intercourse with the shore; hence, such restraint or inhibition of intercourse; also, the place where infected or prohibited vessels are stationed.

Note: Quarantine is now applied also to any forced stoppage of travel or communication on account of malignant contagious disease, on land as well as by sea.

3. (Eng. Law) The period of forty days during which the widow had the privilege of remaining in the mansion house of which her husband died seized.

Quarantine flag, a yellow flag hoisted at the fore of a vessel or hung from a building, to give warning of an infectious disease; -- called also the yellow jack, and yellow flag.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Quarantine

Quar`an*tine"\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Quarantined; p. pr. & vb. n. Quarantining.] To compel to remain at a distance, or in a given place, without intercourse, when suspected of having contagious disease; to put under, or in, quarantine.

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