rinderpest

American

[rin-der-pest] / ˈrɪn dərˌpɛst /

noun

Veterinary Pathology.

an acute, usually fatal infectious disease of cattle, sheep, etc., caused by a paramyxovirus of the genus Morbillivirus and characterized by high fever, diarrhea, and lesions of the skin and mucous membranes.

rinderpest British

/ ˈrɪndəˌpɛst /

noun

an acute contagious viral disease of cattle, characterized by severe inflammation of the intestinal tract and diarrhoea

"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

Etymology

Origin of rinderpest

1860–65; < German, equivalent to Rinder cattle (plural of Rind ) + Pest pestilence

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

rinderpest

Colonizers also brought the cattle disease rinderpest with them wherever they went.

From Textbooks ● Dec. 14, 2022

In what way did rinderpest harm the colonized people of Africa?

From Textbooks ● Dec. 14, 2022

Morbillivirus spilled over into humans from cattle, in whom it causes a devastating disease known as rinderpest, or “cattle plague,” sometime in the 10th century.

From New York Times ● Jan. 19, 2022

And like measles, rinderpest is really contagious, which means it can tear through a population extremely fast.

From Slate ● May 26, 2021

Our intimacy with cattle has been going on for the 9,000 years since we domesticated them—ample time for the rinderpest virus to discover us nearby.

From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023