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Canker
Definitions
- 1 A plant disease marked by gradual decay. countable, uncountable
- 2 a pernicious and malign influence that is hard to get rid of wordnet
- 3 A region of dead plant tissue caused by such a disease. countable, uncountable
"Slightly sunken brown cankers of variable size and shape affect stem parts primarily below the soil line."
- 4 an ulceration (especially of the lips or lining of the mouth) wordnet
- 5 A worm or grub that destroys plant buds or leaves; cankerworm. countable, uncountable
"loathsome canker lives in sweetest bud[…]"
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- 6 a fungal disease of woody plants that causes localized damage to the bark wordnet
- 7 A corroding or sloughing ulcer; especially a spreading gangrenous ulcer or collection of ulcers in or about the mouth. countable, uncountable
- 8 Anything which corrodes, corrupts, or destroys. countable, uncountable
"the cankers of envy and faction"
- 9 A kind of wild rose; the dog rose. countable, uncountable
"To put down Richard, that ſweet louely Roſe, And plant this thorne, this canker Bullingbrooke?"
- 10 An obstinate and often incurable disease of a horse's foot, characterized by separation of the horny portion and the development of fungoid growths. Usually resulting from neglected thrush. countable, uncountable
- 11 An avian disease affecting doves, poultry, parrots and birds of prey, caused by Trichomonas gallinae. countable, uncountable
- 12 A crab. Cornwall, countable, rare, uncountable
"This Caſtoꝛ liueth by water and lande, he loueth to feede vpon Crabbes and Cankers of the Sea."
- 1 To affect as a canker; to eat away; to corrode; to consume. transitive
"Still onward winds the dreary way; / I with it; for I long to prove / No lapse of moons can canker Love, / Whatever fickle tongues may say."
- 2 infect with a canker wordnet
- 3 To infect or pollute; to corrupt. transitive
- 4 become infected with a canker wordnet
- 5 To waste away, grow rusty, or be oxidized, as a mineral. intransitive
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- 6 To be or become diseased, or as if diseased, with canker; to grow corrupt; to become venomous. intransitive
"as with age his body uglier grows, So his mind cankers."
Etymology
From Middle English canker, cancre, from Old English cancer (“cancer; crab”), akin to Dutch kanker, Old High German chanchar. Ultimately from Latin cancer (“a cancer”). Doublet of cancer, a later borrowing from Latin, and chancre, which came through French.
From Middle English cankren, from the noun (see above).
See also for "canker"
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Unscramble this word: canker