infest
[in-fest]
- to live in or overrun to an unwanted degree or in a troublesome manner, especially as predatory animals or vermin do: Sharks infested the coastline.
- to be numerous in, as anything undesirable or troublesome: the cares that infest the day.
- Archaic. to harass.
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Origin of infest
1375–1425; late Middle English < Latin infestāre to assail, molest, derivative of infestus hostile
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Related Words
pollutedefileoverwhelmbesetassailflockworryfillcrowdpesterravageswarminvadeteeminfectplagueaboundpresspenetratecrawlExamples from the Web for infest
Historical Examples
It extinguishes every dirty spark of malice and envy, which are but too apt to infest me.
The Letters of Robert BurnsRobert Burns
Insects do not seem to infest it as they do the ostreatus and the sapidus.
The Mushroom, Edible and OtherwiseM. E. Hard
They infest desert places, and are nocturnal in their habits.
History of ReligionAllan Menzies
From them have come the many species of shark that now infest our ocean.
Unwritten Literature of HawaiiNathaniel Bright Emerson
Other species eat most of the scales which infest fruit and forest trees.
Checking the WasteMary Huston Gregory
infest
- to inhabit or overrun in dangerously or unpleasantly large numbers
- (of parasites such as lice) to invade and live on or in (a host)
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Word Origin
C15: from Latin infestāre to molest, from infestus hostile
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for infest
v.
late 15c., "to attack, assail, hurt, distress, annoy," from Middle French infester, from Latin infestare "to attack, disturb, trouble," from infestus "hostile, dangerous," originally "inexorable, not able to be handled," from in- "not, opposite of" (see in- (1)) + -festus "(able to be) seized." Sense of "swarm over in large numbers" first recorded c.1600. Related: Infested; infesting.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
infest
(ĭn-fĕst′)- To live as a parasite in or on tissues or organs or on the skin and its appendages.
- To inhabit or overrun in numbers large enough to be harmful, threatening, or obnoxious.
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The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
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