New Collegiate Dictionary. 2001.
Pestiferous — Pes*tif er*ous, a. [L. pestiferus, pestifer; pestis pest + ferre to bear: cf. F. pestif[ e]re.] 1. Pest bearing; pestilential; noxious to health; malignant; infectious; contagious; as, pestiferous bodies. Poor, pestiferous creatures begging alms … The Collaborative International Dictionary of English
pestiferous — index contagious, dangerous, deadly, harmful, insalubrious, lethal, malignant, noxious, pernicious … Law dictionary
pestiferous — mid 15c., mischievous, pernicious, figurative use of L. pestiferus that brings plague or destruction, variant of pestifer bringing plague, from pestis plague + ferre carry (see INFER (Cf. infer)) … Etymology dictionary
pestiferous — [pes tif′ər əs] adj. [ME < L pestiferus < pestis, plague + ferre, to BEAR1] 1. a) bringing or carrying disease b) Archaic infected with an epidemic disease 2. dangerous to morals or to the welfare of society; noxious; evil … English World dictionary
pestiferous — adjective /ˌpɛsˈtɪfərəs/ a) containing organisms that cause contagious diseases because he hath vouchsafed to preserue our nation from such fountains, from serpents and venemous wormes, from al other pestiferous contagious creatures. b) annoying … Wiktionary
pestiferous — SYN: pestilential. * * * pes·tif·er·ous pes tif (ə )rəs adj 1) carrying or propagating infection: PESTILENTIAL <a pestiferous insect> 2) infected with a pestilential disease * * * pes·tif·er·ous (pes tifґər əs) [pestis + ferous]… … Medical dictionary
pestiferous — pestiferously, adv. pestiferousness, n. /pe stif euhr euhs/, adj. 1. bringing or bearing disease. 2. pestilential. 3. pernicious; evil. 4. Informal. mischievous; troublesome or annoying. [1425 75; late ME < L pestiferus plague bringing, equiv. to … Universalium
pestiferous — Synonyms and related words: aggravating, annoying, bad, bad for, baneful, bothering, bothersome, catching, communicable, contagious, contaminated, deadly, destructive, disturbing, endemic, envenomed, epidemial, epidemic, epiphytotic, epizootic,… … Moby Thesaurus
Pestiferous — mischievous, troublesome, or annoying … Dictionary of Australian slang
pestiferous — Australian Slang mischievous, troublesome, or annoying … English dialects glossary
