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Webster 1913 Edition


Contagion

Con-ta′gion

(kŏn-tā′jŭn)
,
Noun.
[L.
contagio
: cf. F.
contagion
. See
Contact
.]
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
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;
as, the
contagion
of enthusiasm
.
“The contagion of example.”
Eikon Basilike.
When lust . . .
Lets in defilement to the inward parts,
The soul grows clotted by
contagion
.
Milton.
Syn. – See
Infection
.

Webster 1828 Edition


Contagion

CONTAGION

,
Noun.
[L., to touch.]
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.

Definition 2024


contagion

contagion

English

Noun

contagion (plural contagions)

  1. A disease spread by contact
  2. The spread or transmission of such a disease
  3. The spread of anything harmful, as if it were such a disease
  4. (finance) A situation in which small shocks, which initially affect only a few financial institutions or a particular region of an economy, spread to the rest of financial sectors and other countries whose economies were previously healthy.
    • 2011, George Soros, Project Syndicate, Germany Must Defend the Euro:
      And it was German procrastination that aggravated the Greek crisis and caused the contagion that turned it into an existential crisis for Europe.
  5. (finance) A resulting recession or crisis developed in such manner.

Synonyms

  • (spread or transmission of disease): infection

Derived terms

Translations

See also


French

Noun

contagion f (plural contagions)

  1. contagion

Related terms