Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Contagion
1.
(Med.)
The transmission of a disease from one person to another, by direct or indirect contact.
☞ The term has been applied by some to the action of miasmata arising from dead animal or vegetable matter, bogs, fens, etc., but in this sense it is now abandoned.
Dunglison.
And will he steal out of his wholesome bed
To dare the vile
To dare the vile
contagion
of the night? Shakespeare
2.
That which serves as a medium or agency to transmit disease; a virus produced by, or exhalation proceeding from, a diseased person, and capable of reproducing the disease.
3.
The act or means of communicating any influence to the mind or heart;
“The contagion of example.” as, the
. contagion
of enthusiasmEikon Basilike.
When lust . . .
Lets in defilement to the inward parts,
The soul grows clotted by
Lets in defilement to the inward parts,
The soul grows clotted by
contagion
. Milton.
Syn. – See
Infection
. Webster 1828 Edition
Contagion
CONTAGION
,Noun.
1.
Literally, a touch or touching. Hence, the communication of a disease by contact, or the matter communicated. More generally, that subtil matter which proceeds from a diseased person or body, and communicates the disease to another person; as in cases of small pox, measles, anginas, and malignant fevers; diseases which are communicated without contact. This contagion proceeds from the breath of the diseased, from the perspiration of other excretions.2.
That which communicates evil from one to another; infection; that which propagates mischief; as the contagion of vice or of evil examples.3.
Pestilence; a pestilential disease; venomous exhalations.