from
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
malignant \ma*lig"nant\, a. [L. malignans, -antis, p. pr. of
malignare, malignari, to do or make maliciously. See
{Malign}, and cf. {Benignant}.]
1. Disposed to do harm, inflict suffering, or cause distress;
actuated by extreme malevolence or enmity; virulently
inimical; bent on evil; malicious.
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A malignant and a turbaned Turk. --Shak.
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2. Characterized or caused by evil intentions; pernicious.
"Malignant care." --Macaulay.
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Some malignant power upon my life. --Shak.
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Something deleterious and malignant as his touch.
--Hawthorne.
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3. (Med.) Tending to produce death; threatening a fatal
issue; virulent; as, malignant diphtheria.
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{Malignant pustule} (Med.), a very contagious disease
produced by infection of subcutaneous tissues with the
bacterium {Bacillus anthracis}. It is transmitted to man
from animals and is characterized by the formation, at the
point of reception of the infection, of a vesicle or
pustule which first enlarges and then breaks down into an
unhealthy ulcer. It is marked by profound exhaustion and
often fatal. The disease in animals is called {charbon};
in man it is called {cutaneous anthrax}, and formerly was
sometimes called simply {anthrax}.
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from
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Anthrax \An"thrax\ ([a^]n"thr[a^]ks), n. [L., fr. Gr. 'a`nqrax
coal, carbuncle.]
1. (Med.)
(a) A carbuncle.
(b) A malignant pustule.
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2. (Biol.) A microscopic, bacterial organism ({Bacillus
anthracis}), resembling transparent rods. [See Illust.
under {Bacillus}.]
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3. An infectious disease of cattle and sheep. It is ascribed
to the presence of a rod-shaped gram-positive bacterium
({Bacillus anthracis}), the spores of which constitute the
contagious matter. It may be transmitted to man by
inoculation. The spleen becomes greatly enlarged and
filled with bacteria. Called also {splenic fever}.
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