pestiferous

English

Etymology

Mid 15th century, in sense “mischievous, pernicious”, from Latin pestiferus (“bearing plague”), from pestifer, from pestis (“plague”) + ferre (“carry”) (see infer).

Surface analysis is pest +‎ -iferous (“bearing, carrying”).

Pronunciation

• (Canada) IPA: /ˌpɛsˈtɪfərəs/

Adjective

pestiferous (comparative more pestiferous, superlative most pestiferous)

1. containing organisms that cause contagious diseases
   • 1589: Richard Hakluyt, The Principal Navigations

     because he hath vouchsafed to preserue our nation from such fountains, from serpents and venemous wormes, & from al other pestiferous & contagious creatures.

   • 1792: Mary Wollstonecraft, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman

     In these solemn moments man discovers the germ of those vices, which like the Java tree shed a pestiferous vapour around--death is in the shade!

   • 1853: Charles Dickens, Bleak House

     and bears the body of our dear brother here departed to a hemmed-in churchyard, pestiferous and obscene, whence malignant diseases are communicated to the bodies of our dear brothers and sisters who have not departed...

2. annoying, vexatious
   • 1592: William Shakespeare, King Henry VI, Part 1

     No, prelate; such is thy audacious wickedness, / Thy lewd, pestiferous, and dissentious pranks, / As very infants prattle of thy pride.

   • 1896: Mark Twain, Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc

     and if any could have hanged his hindering and pestiferous council and set him free, he would have answered Joan's prayer and set her in the field.

   • 1938: Jerome Siegel and Joe Shuster, "Superman" in Action Comics #7, page 2:

     Lois rescues Clark from the pestiferous curly...

Synonyms

• (harboring disease, annoying): pestilent

Related terms

• pest
• pestilent

Translations

containing organisms that cause contagious diseases

• Romanian: pestifer (ro), pestilențial (ro)

• Russian: заразный (ru) (zaraznyj)
• Spanish: pestífero (es)

annoying, vexatious

• Romanian: plictisitor (ro), sâcâitor (ro), pisălog (ro)

• Russian: надоедливый (ru) (nadojedlivyj)