smallpox

[smawl-poks]

noun Pathology.

an acute, highly contagious, febrile disease, caused by the variola virus, and characterized by a pustular eruption that often leaves permanent pits or scars: eradicated worldwide by vaccination programs.

Origin of smallpox

First recorded in 1510–20; small + pox

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

Examples from the Web for smallpox

Contemporary Examples of smallpox

In many places, it was custom to place huts outside the villages for smallpox victims.
The Original Ebola Hunter
Abby Haglage
September 14, 2014
For example, vaccinia immune globulin, or VIG, is stored and ready for the next person who becomes ill from smallpox vaccine.
Emory Will Wage High-Tech War on Ebola
Kent Sepkowitz
August 1, 2014
In the 18th century, German immigrants coming to Pennsylvania boarded ships plagued with typhus, dysentery, smallpox, and scurvy.
At Least Two ‘Border Kids’ Have Swine Flu
Ruben Navarrette Jr.
July 2, 2014
Shoham adds without substantive evidence that “Syrian possession of the smallpox virus is likely.”
Western Intelligence Suspects Assad Has a Secret Chemical Stockpile
Noah Shachtman, Christopher Dickey
May 1, 2014
The only places the smallpox virus are known to exist today are storage facilities at the CDC and in Russia.
Western Intelligence Suspects Assad Has a Secret Chemical Stockpile
Noah Shachtman, Christopher Dickey
May 1, 2014

Historical Examples of smallpox

And I like her more than ever now, when she risked what she thought was smallpox to care for him.
Keziah Coffin
Joseph C. Lincoln
John is worshiped pretty nigh, since his pluck with that smallpox man.
Keziah Coffin
Joseph C. Lincoln
And smallpox, even now, is a disease the name of which strikes panic to a community.
Keziah Coffin
Joseph C. Lincoln
Just say smallpox to this town and it goes to pieces like a smashed egg.
Keziah Coffin
Joseph C. Lincoln
"Better her face should be pitted with smallpox than bring her to the pit of hell," said Csar.
The Manxman
Hall Caine

British Dictionary definitions for smallpox

smallpox

noun

an acute highly contagious viral disease characterized by high fever, severe prostration, and a pinkish rash changing in form from papules to pustules, which dry up and form scabs that are cast off, leaving pitted depressionsTechnical name: variola Related adjective: variolous

Word Origin for smallpox

C16: from small + pox . So called to distinguish it from the Great Pox, an archaic name for syphilis

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 smallpox

acute, highly contagious disease, 1510s, small pokkes, as distinguished from great pox "syphillis;" from small-pock "pustule caused by smallpox" (mid-15c.); see small (adj.) + pox. Cf. French petite vérole. Fatal in a quarter to a third of unvaccinated cases.

smallpox in Medicine

smallpox

[smôl′pŏks′]

n.

An acute, highly infectious, often fatal disease caused by a poxvirus and characterized by high fever and aches with subsequent widespread eruption of papules that blister, produce pus, and form scabs that leave permanent pockmarks.variola

smallpox in Science

smallpox

[smôl′pŏks′]

A highly infectious and often fatal disease caused by the variola virus of the genus Orthopoxvirus and characterized by fever, headache, and severely inflamed skin sores that result in extensive scarring. Once a dreaded killer of children that caused the deaths of millions of Native Americans after the arrival of European settlers in the Americas, smallpox was declared eradicated in 1980 following a worldwide vaccination campaign. Samples of the virus have been preserved in laboratories in the United States and Russia. Also called variola See Note at Jenner.

smallpox in Culture

smallpox

An acute and infectious disease caused by a virus and now almost completely eradicated. Smallpox was characterized by high fever and large sores on the body that leave scars.

Note

A surface with many blemishes is sometimes said to be “pockmarked” because it resembles the skin of a smallpox sufferer.

Note

Smallpox is the first disease of humans to be completely eradicated by a worldwide campaign of inoculation.

Note

Today, the smallpox virus exists only in laboratories.

Note

The use of smallpox is a major concern in the area of bioterrorism (see also bioterrorism).