Infect

4 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Infect \In*fect"\, a. [L. infectus: cf. F. infect. See {Infect},
     v. t.]
     Infected. Cf. {Enfect}. [Obs.] --Shak.
     [1913 Webster]

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:



  Infect \In*fect"\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Infected}; p. pr. & vb.
     n. {Infecting}.] [L. infectus, p. p. of inficere to put or
     dip into, to stain, infect; pref. in- in + facere to make;
     cf. F. infecter. See {Fact}.]
     [1913 Webster]
     1. To taint with morbid matter or any pestilential or noxious
        substance or effluvium by which disease is produced; as,
        to infect a lancet; to infect an apartment.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. To affect with infectious disease; to communicate
        infection to; as, infected with the plague.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              Them that were left alive being infected with this
              disease.                              --Sir T.
                                                    North.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     3. To communicate to or affect with, as qualities or
        emotions, esp. bad qualities; to corrupt; to contaminate;
        to taint by the communication of anything noxious or
        pernicious. --Cowper.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              Infected Ston's daughters with like heat. --Milton.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     4. (Law) To contaminate with illegality or to expose to
        penalty.
  
     Syn: To poison; vitiate; pollute; defile.
          [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  infect
       v 1: communicate a disease to; "Your children have infected you
            with this head cold"
       2: contaminate with a disease or microorganism [syn: {taint}]
          [ant: {disinfect}]
       3: contaminate with ideas or an ideology; "society was infected
          by racism"
       4: affect in a contagious way; "His laughter infects everyone
          who is in the same room"

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  106 Moby Thesaurus words for "infect":
     abuse, activate, adulterate, afflict, aggrieve, alloy, animate,
     befoul, benasty, bewitch, blight, canker, charge, cheapen, coarsen,
     condemn, confound, contaminate, corrupt, crucify, curse, damage,
     debase, debauch, defile, deflower, degenerate, degrade, denature,
     deprave, desecrate, despoil, destroy, devalue, disadvantage,
     disease, disserve, distort, distress, do a mischief, do evil,
     do ill, do wrong, do wrong by, doom, embue, enliven, envenom,
     exhilarate, fire, foul, get into trouble, harass, harm, hex, hurt,
     imbue, impair, inform, infuse, inject, injure, inoculate, inspire,
     inspirit, irradiate, jinx, maltreat, menace, mess, mess up,
     mistreat, misuse, molest, nasty, outrage, persecute, pervert,
     play havoc with, play hob with, poison, pollute, prejudice,
     prostitute, radiumize, ravage, ravish, savage, scathe, spirit,
     spirit up, sully, taint, tarnish, threaten, torment, torture,
     twist, ulcerate, violate, vitiate, vulgarize, warp, wound,
     wreak havoc on, wrong