bubonic plague


nounPathology.
  1. a serious, sometimes fatal, infection with the bacterial toxin Yersinia pestis, transmitted by fleas from infected rodents and characterized by high fever, weakness, and the formation of buboes, especially in the groin and armpits.

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Origin of bubonic plague

1
First recorded in 1885–90

Words Nearby bubonic plague

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use bubonic plague in a sentence

  • The bubonic plague, the most fatal of all epidemic diseases, has already appeared in California and Mexico.

  • In visiting a case of bubonic plague the priest should be as cautious as if he were attending a smallpox patient.

  • A determined effort is now being made to exterminate the rat because of its connection with bubonic plague.

    A Civic Biology | George William Hunter
  • bubonic plague, one of the most dreaded of all infectious diseases, is carried to man by fleas from rats.

    A Civic Biology | George William Hunter

British Dictionary definitions for bubonic plague

bubonic plague

noun
  1. an acute infectious febrile disease characterized by chills, prostration, delirium, and formation of buboes: caused by the bite of a rat flea infected with the bacterium Yersinia pestis: See also plague

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Scientific definitions for bubonic plague

bubonic plague

[ bōō-bŏnĭk ]


The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Cultural definitions for bubonic plague

bubonic plague

[ (byooh-bon-ik, booh-bon-ik playg) ]


A highly contagious disease, usually fatal, affecting the lymphatic system. The bubonic plague is caused by bacteria transmitted to humans by rat-borne fleas.

Notes for bubonic plague

From 1347 to 1351, a disease known as the Black Death, similar to the bubonic plague, entered Europe from Asia and killed a large percentage of the population, sometimes wiping out entire towns. It caused widespread social changes in Europe.

The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.