fester
English
Etymology
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(deprecated template usage) From Old French festre (cognate with Italian fistola, Occitan fistola, Spanish fístula), from Latin fistula. The verb is derived from the noun, while the “condition of something that festers” noun sense is derived from the verb.
Pronunciation
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Audio (RP): (file) - Lua error in Module:parameters at line 290: Parameter 1 should be a valid language or etymology language code; the value "GA" is not valid. See WT:LOL and WT:LOL/E. IPA(key): /ˈfɛstɚ/
Audio (AU): (file) - Rhymes: -ɛstə(ɹ)
- Hyphenation: fes‧ter
Noun
fester (plural festers)
- (pathology, obsolete) A fistula.
- (pathology) A sore or an ulcer of the skin.
- 1848, Samuel Maunder, “SPIDERS. (Arachnida.)”, in The Treasury of Natural History; or, A Popular Dictionary of Animated Nature: In which the Zoological Characteristics that Distinguish the Different Classes, Genera, and Species, are Combined with a Variety of Interesting Information Illustrative of the Habits, Instincts, and General Economy of the Animal Kingdom. To which are Added, a Syllabus of Practical Taxidermy, and a Glossarial Appendix. [...], London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, Paternoster-Row, →OCLC, page 637, column 1:
- The larger the Spider, the warmer the climate or season of the year, and the more susceptible the wounded individual, so much worse will the effects be; and it is no therefore no wonder that people who would have a fester from a simple prick with a needle, should feel more violent effects from the bite of a Spider.
- 1861, Benjamin Ridge, “Medical and Self Torture”, in Ourselves, Our Food, and Our Physic, London: Chapman and Hall, 193 Piccadilly, →OCLC, page 68:
- While to the fingers and toes, which are frequently the seat of spontaneous festers, &c., irritation is kept up [if a hot poultice is applied], the skin is thickened, and rendered less liable to be permeated by matter; the heat is driven down the soft structures to the very bones and joints, and a portion of them may be lost in consequence.
- 1864 July, “The Rim. Part III.—Conclusion.”, in The Atlantic Monthly. A Magazine of Literature, Art, and Politcs, volume XIV, number LXXXI, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor and Fields, 135, Washington Street; London: Trübner and Company, →OCLC, page 68:
- He has been away so long and so often, there has been such mismanagement under a long minority, such changes and such misrule, such a hard hand and such a high hand, that the whole place is a fester.
- The condition of something that festers; a festering; a festerment.
Verb
fester (third-person singular simple present festers, present participle festering, simple past and past participle festered)
- (intransitive) To become septic; to become rotten.
- 1671, John Milton, “Samson Agonistes, […].”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: […] J. M[acock] for John Starkey […], →OCLC, page 42, lines 521–523:
- [W]ounds immedicable / Ranckle, and feſter, and gangrene, / To black mortification.
- 2017 February 23, Katie Rife, “The Girl With All The Gifts tries to put a fresh spin on overripe zombie clichés”, in The A.V. Club[1]:
- Here, Melanie once again provides an interesting variation on the formula, serving as a scout and ambassador between worlds. Don't expect anything new from her human counterparts, though, just the usual shooting and running and hiding slowly festering flesh wounds.
- (intransitive) To worsen, especially due to lack of attention.
- Deal with the problem immediately; do not let it fester.
- 1855, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter XVII, in The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, volume IV, London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC, page 116:
- All this time hatred, kept down by fear, festered in the hearts of the children of the soil.
- (transitive) To cause to fester or rankle.
- c. 1599–1600 John Marston, Antonios Reuenge. The Second Part. As it hath beene Sundry Times Acted, by the Children of Paules, London: Printed [by Richard Bradock] for Thomas Fisher, and are to be soulde [by Matthew Lownes] in Saint Dunstans Church-yarde, published 1602, →OCLC, Act I, scene i; republished in J[ames] O[rchard] Halliwell, editor, The Works of John Marston. Reprinted from the Original Editions. With Notes, and some Account of His Life and Writings. [...] In Three Volumes, volume I, London: John Russell Smith, Soho Square, 1856, →OCLC, page 74:
- For which I burnt in inward sweltring hate, / And festred rankling malice in my breast, / Till I might belke revenge upon his eyes: […]
- c. 1599–1600 John Marston, Antonios Reuenge. The Second Part. As it hath beene Sundry Times Acted, by the Children of Paules, London: Printed [by Richard Bradock] for Thomas Fisher, and are to be soulde [by Matthew Lownes] in Saint Dunstans Church-yarde, published 1602, →OCLC, Act I, scene i; republished in J[ames] O[rchard] Halliwell, editor, The Works of John Marston. Reprinted from the Original Editions. With Notes, and some Account of His Life and Writings. [...] In Three Volumes, volume I, London: John Russell Smith, Soho Square, 1856, →OCLC, page 74:
Conjugation
Conjugation of fester
infinitive | (to) fester | ||
---|---|---|---|
present tense | past tense | ||
1st-person singular | fester | festered | |
2nd-person singular | |||
3rd-person singular | festers | ||
plural | fester | ||
subjunctive | fester | festered | |
imperative | fester | — | |
participles | festering | festered |
Derived terms
- festeringly
- festerment
- festerous (rare)
Translations
become septic or rotten
|
To worsen, especially due to lack of attention
|
Anagrams
Danish
Noun
fester c
Verb
fester
German
Pronunciation
Adjective
fester
- inflection of fest:
Norwegian Bokmål
Noun
fester m
- indefinite plural of fest
Verb
fester
Swedish
Noun
fester
Categories:
- English terms derived from Old French
- English terms derived from Latin
- English 2-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio links
- Rhymes:English/ɛstə(ɹ)
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- en:Pathology
- English terms with obsolete senses
- English terms with quotations
- English verbs
- English intransitive verbs
- English terms with usage examples
- English transitive verbs
- Danish non-lemma forms
- Danish noun forms
- Danish verb forms
- German terms with audio links
- Rhymes:German/ɛstɐ
- German non-lemma forms
- German adjective forms
- Norwegian Bokmål non-lemma forms
- Norwegian Bokmål noun forms
- Norwegian Bokmål verb forms
- Swedish non-lemma forms
- Swedish noun forms