plague
From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
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See also: plagué
Etymology
From Middle English plage, borrowed from Old French plage, from Latin plāga (“blow, wound”), from plangō (“to strike”). Cognate with Middle Dutch plāghe (> Dutch plaag), plāghen (> Dutch plagen); Middle Low German plāge; Middle High German plāge, pflāge (> German Plage); plāgen (> German plagen); Swedish plåga; French plaie, Occitan plaga. Doublet of plaga. Displaced native Old English wōl.
Pronunciation
Noun
plague (countable and uncountable, plural plagues)
- (often used with the, sometimes capitalized: the Plague) The bubonic plague, the pestilent disease caused by the virulent bacterium Yersinia pestis.
- 1722, Daniel Defoe, A Journal of the Plague Year:
- It was about the beginning of September, 1664, that I, among the rest of my neighbours, heard in ordinary discourse that the plague was returned again in Holland […] It mattered not from whence it came; but all agreed it was come into Holland again.
- (pathology) An epidemic or pandemic caused by any pestilence, but specifically by the above disease.
- Synonyms: pest, pestilence
- A widespread affliction, calamity, or destructive influx, especially when seen as divine retribution.
- Synonym: (archaic) murrain
- Ten Biblical plagues over Egypt, ranging from locusts to the death of the crown prince, finally forced Pharaoh to let Moses's people go.
- c. 1591–1595 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Romeo and Ivliet”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene i], page 64:
- A plague a both the Houſes, I am sped: / Is he gone and hath nothing?
- (figurative) A grave nuisance, whatever greatly irritates.
- Bart is an utter plague; his pranks never cease.
- 2022 April 30, Joe Biden, 0:36 from the start, in President Biden complete remarks at 2022 White House Correspondents' Dinner (C-SPAN), Washington, D.C.: C-SPAN, archived from the original on 01 May 2022:
- This is the first time a President has attended this dinner in six years. It's understandable- we had a horrible plague, followed by two years of COVID!
- (ornithology) A group of common grackles.
Derived terms
- antiplague
- Australian plague locust
- avoid like the plague
- be at the plague
- bioplague
- bird plague
- Black Plague
- bubonic plague
- capacitor plague
- cattle plague
- fowl plague
- gay plague
- hog plague
- Kansas horse plague
- nonplague
- Pahvant Valley plague
- pig plague
- plague bird
- plague cross
- plague doctor
- plagueful
- plagueless
- plaguelike
- plaguer
- plague rat
- plague-ridden
- plaguesome
- plague spot
- plague water
- plaguey, plaguy
- plaguish
- pneumonic plague
- purple plague
- red plague
- Siberian plague
- stallion plague
- superplague
- the plague
- white plague
Translations
specific disease "the Plague"
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an epidemic or pandemic caused by any pestilence
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widespread affliction, calamity
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a nuisance
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked
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Verb
plague (third-person singular simple present plagues, present participle plaguing, simple past and past participle plagued)
- (transitive) To harass, pester or annoy someone persistently or incessantly.
- Synonyms: badger, harry, hound; see also Thesaurus:pester
- 1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], “Chapter XXVI. Lady Marchmont to Sir Jasper Meredith.”, in Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 238:
- "Moreover," replied Congreve, "it was a sort of flattery to the duke. It showed that she valued the power of plaguing him more than her own fairest ornament. Flattery is the real secret by which a woman keeps her lover."
- 2018 February, Robert Draper, “They are Watching You—and Everything Else on the Planet: Technology and Our Increasing Demand for Security have Put Us All under Surveillance. Is Privacy Becoming just a Memory?”, in National Geographic, Washington, D.C.: National Geographic Society, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 14 June 2018:
- [W]hat we have here, they believe, are two members of gangs that have been plaguing Islington for more than a year. They snatch smartphones from pedestrians, then sell the items on the black market.
- 2015 April 15, Jonathan Martin, “For a Clinton, It’s Not Hard to Be Humble in an Effort to Regain Power”, in The New York Times:
- Just as Mr. Clinton began a comeback with a down-home plea for forgiveness, Mrs. Clinton now seems determined to prove, perhaps to the point of overcompensation, that she will not repeat the mistakes that plagued her 2008 campaign.
- (transitive) To afflict with a disease or other calamity.
Derived terms
Translations
to harass
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to afflict with disease or calamity
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Verb
plague
- inflection of plagar:
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