Plaguer

plague  (plg)

n.

1. A widespread affliction or calamity, especially one seen as divine retribution.

2. A sudden destructive influx or injurious outbreak: a plague of locusts; a plague of accidents.

3. A cause of annoyance; a nuisance: "the plague of social jabbering" (George Santayana).

4.

a. A highly infectious, usually fatal, epidemic disease; a pestilence.

b. A highly fatal infectious disease that is caused by the bacterium Yersinia (syn. Pasturella ) pestis, is transmitted primarily by the bite of a rat flea, and occurs in bubonic, pneumonic, and septicemic forms.

tr.v. plagued, plagu·ing, plagues

1. To pester or annoy persistently or incessantly. See Synonyms at harass.

2. To afflict with or as if with a disease or calamity: "Runaway inflation further plagued the wage- or salary-earner" (Edwin O. Reischauer).

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[Middle English plage, blow, calamity, plague, from Late Latin plga, from Latin, blow, wound; see plk-² in Indo-European roots. V., Middle English plaghen, from Middle Dutch, from plaghe, plague, from Late Latin plga.]

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plaguer n.