Canker

canker
    n 1: a fungal disease of woody plants that causes localized
         damage to the bark
    2: an ulceration (especially of the lips or lining of the mouth)
       [syn: {canker}, {canker sore}]
    3: a pernicious and malign influence that is hard to get rid of;
       "racism is a pestilence at the heart of the nation";
       "according to him, I was the canker in their midst" [syn:
       {pestilence}, {canker}]
    v 1: become infected with a canker
    2: infect with a canker
    

Canker \Can"ker\ (k[a^][ng]"k[~e]r), n. [OE. canker, cancre, AS.
   cancer (akin to D. kanker, OHG chanchar.), fr. L. cancer a
   cancer; or if a native word, cf. Gr. ? excrescence on tree, ?
   gangrene. Cf. also OF. cancre, F. chancere, fr. L. cancer.
   See {cancer}, and cf. {Chancre}.]
   [1913 Webster]
   1. A corroding or sloughing ulcer; esp. a spreading
      gangrenous ulcer or collection of ulcers in or about the
      mouth; -- called also {water canker}, {canker of the
      mouth}, and {noma}.
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   2. Anything which corrodes, corrupts, or destroy.
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            The cankers of envy and faction.      --Temple.
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   3. (Hort.) A disease incident to trees, causing the bark to
      rot and fall off.
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   4. (Far.) 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.
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   5. A kind of wild, worthless rose; the dog-rose.
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            To put down Richard, that sweet lovely rose.
            And plant this thorm, this canker, Bolingbroke.
                                                  --Shak.
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   {Black canker}. See under {Black}.
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Canker \Can"ker\ (k[a^][ng]"k[~e]r), v. t. [imp. & p. p.
   {Cankered} (-k[~e]rd); p. pr. & vb. n. {Cankering}.]
   1. To affect as a canker; to eat away; to corrode; to
      consume.
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            No lapse of moons can canker Love.    --Tennyson.
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   2. To infect or pollute; to corrupt. --Addison.
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            A tithe purloined cankers the whole estate.
                                                  --Herbert.
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Canker \Can"ker\, v. i.
   1. To waste away, grow rusty, or be oxidized, as a mineral.
      [Obs.]
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            Silvering will sully and canker more than gliding.
                                                  --Bacom.
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   2. To be or become diseased, or as if diseased, with canker;
      to grow corrupt; to become venomous.
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            Deceit and cankered malice.           --Dryden.
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            As with age his body uglier grows,
            So his mind cankers.                  --Shak.
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Canker
a gangrene or mortification which gradually spreads over the
whole body (2 Tim. 2:17). In James 5:3 "cankered" means "rusted"
(R.V.) or tarnished.
    

135 Moby Thesaurus words for "canker":
      abscess, adulterate, alloy, aposteme, bed sore, blain, blast, bleb,
      blight, blister, boil, break up, bubo, bulla, bunion, cancer,
      canker sore, carbuncle, chancre, chancroid, cheapen, chilblain,
      coarsen, cold sore, confound, contaminate, corrode, corrupt,
      crumble, crumble into dust, debase, debauch, decay, decompose,
      defile, deflower, degenerate, degrade, demoralize, denature,
      deprave, desecrate, despoil, devalue, disintegrate, distort,
      dry rot, eat, eat away, eat into, erode, eschar, fall into decay,
      fall to pieces, felon, fester, festering, fever blister, fistula,
      fungus, furuncle, furunculus, gangrene, gathering, gnaw, go bad,
      go to pieces, gumboil, hemorrhoids, infect, kibe, lesion, mildew,
      misuse, mold, molder, mortify, moth, moth and rust, must, necrose,
      nibble away, oxidize, papula, papule, paronychia, parulis, pervert,
      pest, petechia, piles, pimple, pock, poison, pollute, polyp,
      prostitute, pustule, putrefy, putresce, rankle, ravage, ravish,
      rising, rot, rust, scab, smut, soft chancre, sore, sphacelate,
      spoil, stain, stigma, sty, suppurate, suppuration, swelling, taint,
      tubercle, twist, ulcer, ulcerate, ulceration, violate, vitiate,
      vulgarize, wale, warp, welt, wheal, whelk, whitlow, worm, wound