Refine this word faster
Leprous
Definitions
- 1 Of or relating to one of the diseases known as leprosy.
"1748, Philip Luckombe, A Tour Through Ireland, London: T. Lowndes & Son, 1783, Journey the Fourth, p. 324, […] a dissenting minister […] came to this well, over-run with leprous eruptions on the skin, which had rendered his joints so rigid, that he could neither hold his bridle, nor feed himself […]"
- 2 Infected with one of the diseases known as leprosy.
"And the Lord said furthermore unto him, Put now thine hand into thy bosom. And he put his hand into his bosom: and when he took it out, behold, his hand was leprous as snow."
- 3 Similar to leprosy or its symptoms.
- 4 Having the appearance of the skin of one infected with leprosy; flaking, peeling, scabby, scurfy.
"And why, except that it had moved everywhere with them and they regarded it as one of their possessions, had they kept the hatrack, its glass now leprous, most of its hooks broken, its woodwork ugly with painting-over?"
- 5 Immoral, or corrupted or tainted in some manner; also, ostracized, shunned. archaic, figuratively
"My whole Life is so leprous, it infects All my Repentance: I wou’d buy your Pardon Though at the highest Set, even with my Life:"
Show 3 more definitions
- 6 Of gold or other metals: contaminated with other substances; impure. historical
- 7 Synonym of leprose (“covered with thin scurfy scales, scaly-looking”). archaic
- 8 Causing leprosy or a disease resembling it. obsolete
"Thy vncle came, with iuyce of Hebona, / In a viall, and through the porches of my eares / Did powre the leaprous diſtilment, whoſe effect / Hold ſuch an enmitie with blood of man, […]"
- 1 relating to or resembling or having leprosy wordnet
Etymology
From Middle English leprous (“having leprosy or a skin disease with symptoms like leprosy; (alchemy) of metals or minerals: impure; a leper”) [and other forms], from Anglo-Norman leprous, lepros [and other forms], Middle French lepros, lepreux, and Old French leprous, lepros (“having leprosy; a leper”) (modern French lépreux), and from their etymon Late Latin leprosus (“having leprosy; (alchemy) of metals: impure; a leper”), from Latin lepra (“leprosy”) + -ōsus (suffix meaning ‘full of; overly; prone to’ forming adjectives from nouns). Lepra is derived from Ancient Greek λέπρᾱ (léprā, “leprosy”), from λεπῐ́ς (lepĭ́s, “flake, scale; epithelial debris”) (perhaps from λέπω (lépō, “to peel, strip off a husk or rind”) + -ῐς (-ĭs, suffix forming feminine nouns)) + -ᾱ (-ā, suffix forming action nouns from verbs).
See also for "leprous"
Next best steps
Mini challenge
Unscramble this word: leprous