plague
See also: plagué
English
Lua error in Module:interproject at line 59: Parameter "dab" is not used by this template.
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.
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.
- (pathology) An epidemic or pandemic caused by any pestilence, but specifically by the above disease.
- A widespread affliction, calamity or destructive influx, especially when seen as divine retribution.
- Ten Biblical plagues over Egypt, ranging from locusts to the death of the crown prince, finally forced Pharaoh to let Moses's people go.
- A grave nuisance, whatever greatly irritates
- Bart is an utter plague; his pranks never cease.
Synonyms
Derived terms
Terms derived from plague (noun)
Translations
specific disease "the Plague"
|
an epidemic or pandemic caused by any pestilence
|
widespread affliction, calamity
|
a nuisance
|
- 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
|
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.
- 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[1], 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[2]:
- 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.
- Natural catastrophes plagued the colonists till they abandoned the pestilent marshland.
Derived terms
Translations
to harass
|
to afflict with disease or calamity
|
Spanish
Verb
plague
Categories:
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms borrowed from Old French
- English terms derived from Old French
- English terms derived from Latin
- English 1-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio links
- Rhymes:English/eɪɡ
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English uncountable nouns
- English countable nouns
- en:Pathology
- English verbs
- English transitive verbs
- English terms with quotations
- en:Bacterial diseases
- en:Death
- en:Vector-borne diseases
- Spanish non-lemma forms
- Spanish verb forms
- Spanish forms of verbs ending in -ar