Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Pestilence
1.
Specifically, the disease known as the plague; hence, any contagious or infectious epidemic disease that is virulent and devastating.
The
pestilence
that walketh in darkness. Ps. xci. 6.
2.
Fig.: That which is pestilent, noxious, or pernicious to the moral character of great numbers.
I’ll pour this
pestilence
into his ear. Shakespeare
Pestilence weed
(Bot.)
, the butterbur coltsfoot (
Petasites vulgaris
), so called because formerly considered a remedy for the plague. Dr. Prior.
Definition 2024
Pestilence
Pestilence
See also: pestilence
English
Proper noun
Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, an 1887 painting by Victor Vasnetsov. The Lamb is visible at the top.
Pestilence
- The personification of pestilence, often depicted riding a white horse.
Synonyms
- Conquest
- the white rider
Translations
the personification of pestilence
pestilence
pestilence
See also: Pestilence
English
Noun
pestilence (plural pestilences)
- Any epidemic disease that is highly contagious, infectious, virulent and devastating.
- 1949 - Bruce Kiskaddon, George R. Stewart, Earth Abides
- The snowshoe-rabbits build up through the years until they reach a climax when they seem to be everywhere; then with dramatic suddenness their pestilence falls upon them.
- 1826, Mary Shelley, The Last Man, part 2, chapter 2
- "Take it, Christian dogsǃ take the palaces, the gardens, the mosques, the abode of our fathers - take plague with them; pestilence is the enemy we fly; if she be your friend, hug her to your bosoms. The curse of Allah is on Stamboul, share ye her fateǃ"
- 1949 - Bruce Kiskaddon, George R. Stewart, Earth Abides
Related terms
Translations
any highly contagious epidemic disease
Old French
Noun
pestilence f (oblique plural pestilences, nominative singular pestilence, nominative plural pestilences)
- pestilence (epidemic disease)