pox

[poks]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR pox ON THESAURUS.COM

noun Pathology.

a disease characterized by multiple skin pustules, as smallpox.

Also called soil rot. Plant Pathology. a disease of sweet potatoes, characterized by numerous pitlike lesions on the roots, caused by a fungus, Streptomyces ipomoea.

(used as an interjection to express distaste, rejection, aversion, etc.): A pox on you and your bright ideas!

Origin of pox

1540–50 (earlier as surname); spelling variant of pocks, plural of pock

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for pox

herpes, gonorrhea, syphilis, STD, VD, crabs

Examples from the Web for pox

Contemporary Examples of pox

For example, though I had chicken pox decades ago, I still have antibody to chicken pox.
The ‘HIV-Cured Baby’ Distorts Hope
Kent Sepkowitz
March 7, 2014
Libertarians, of course, have grimly wished a pox on both their houses of Congress.
Big Brother Is Watching Your Cell Phone
Megan McArdle
June 6, 2013

Historical Examples of pox

Mebbe the best thing I could do would be to take the pox and go under.
Cavanagh: Forest Ranger
Hamlin Garland
The pox only converts them, and that only when it kills them.
Microcosmography
John Earle
A pox o your throat, you bawling, blasphemous, incharitable dog!
The Tempest
William Shakespeare
I little thought, fool that I was, that he would get this pox.
Richard Carvel, Complete
Winston Churchill
Pox take the Tailors for making the Fobs so deep and narrow!
The Beggar's Opera
John Gay

British Dictionary definitions for pox

pox

noun

any disease characterized by the formation of pustules on the skin that often leave pockmarks when healed

the pox an informal name for syphilis

a pox on someone (interjection) archaic an expression of intense disgust or aversion for someone

Word Origin for pox

C15: changed from pocks, plural of pock

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for pox

late 15c., spelling alteration of pockes, plural of pocke (see pock (n.)). Especially (after c.1500) of syphilis.

pox in Medicine

pox

[pŏks]

n.

A disease such as chickenpox or smallpox, characterized by purulent skin eruptions that may leave pockmarks.

Syphilis.