Pestiferous
(Pes*tif"er*ous) a. [L. pestiferus, pestifer; pestis pest + ferre to bear: cf. F. pestifère.]
1. Pest-bearing; pestilential; noxious to health; malignant; infectious; contagious; as, pestiferous bodies.
"Poor, pestiferous creatures begging alms." Evelyn. "Unwholesome and pestiferous occupations." Burke.
2. Noxious to peace, to morals, or to society; vicious; hurtful; destructive; as, a pestiferous demagogue.
Pestiferous reports of men very nobly held.
Shak. Pestiferously
(Pes*tif"er*ous*ly), adv. In a pestiferuos manner.
Pestilence
(Pes"ti*lence) n. [F. pestilence, L. pestilentia. See Pestilent.]
1. Specifically, the disease known as the plague; hence, any contagious or infectious epidemic disease
that is virulent and devastating.
The pestilence That walketh in darkness.
Ps. xci. 6. 2. Fig.: That which is pestilent, noxious, or pernicious to the moral character of great numbers.
I'll pour this pestilence into his ear.
Shak. Pestilence weed (Bot.), the butterbur coltsfoot so called because formerly considered a remedy for
the plague. Dr. Prior.
Pestilent
(Pes"ti*lent) a. [L. pestilens, -entis, fr. pestis pest: cf. F. pestilent.] Pestilential; noxious; pernicious; mischievous.
"Corrupt and pestilent." Milton. "What a pestilent knave is this same!" Shak.
Pestilential
(Pes`ti*len"tial) a. [Cf. F. pestilentiel.]
1. Having the nature or qualities of a pestilence. "Sends the pestilential vapors." Longfellow.
2. Hence: Mischievous; noxious; pernicious; morally destructive.
So pestilential, so infectious a thing is sin.
Jer. Taylor. Pestilentially
(Pes`ti*len"tial*ly), adv. Pestilently.
Pestilentious
(Pes`ti*len"tious) a. Pestilential. [Obs.]
Pestilently
(Pes"ti*lent*ly) adv. In a pestilent manner; mischievously; destructively. "Above all measure
pestilently noisome." Dr. H. More.
Pestilentness
(Pes"ti*lent*ness), n. The quality of being pestilent.
Pestillation
(Pes`til*la"tion) n. [LL. pestillum, L. pistillum. See Pestle.] The act of pounding and bruising
with a pestle in a mortar. Sir T. Browne.
Pestle
(Pes"tle) n. [OE. pestel, OF. pestel, LL. pestellum, L. pistillum, pistillus, a pounder, pestle, fr.
pisere, pinsere, to pound, crush, akin to Gr. Skr. pish. Cf. Pistil.]
1. An implement for pounding and breaking or braying substances in a mortar.
2. A constable's or bailiff's staff; — so called from its shape. [Obs.] Chapman.
3. The leg and leg bone of an animal, especially of a pig; as, a pestle of pork.
