CONTAGION • E-FREE TRANSLATION.COM • Definition of Contagion

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/kəntˈeɪdʒən/ Listen

noun

Contagion n.

(Med.) The transmission of a disease from one person to another, by direct or indirect contact. Note: The term has been applied by some to the action of miasmata arising from dead animal or vegetable matter, bogs, fens, etc., but in this sense it is now abandoned. "And will he steal out of his wholesome bed To dare the vile contagion of the night?"

That which serves as a medium or agency to transmit disease; a virus produced by, or exhalation proceeding from, a diseased person, and capable of reproducing the disease.

The act or means of communicating any influence to the mind or heart; as, the contagion of enthusiasm. "The contagion of example." "When lust... Lets in defilement to the inward parts, The soul grows clotted by contagion."

Venom; poison. (Obs.) "I'll touch my point with this contagion."

Synonyms: See Infection.

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Etymology of 'Contagion'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Contagion" Quotes from Famous Books

... debarred from baptism and grace, how much more ought not an infant to be debarred who, being newly born, has in no way sinned, except that being born after Adam in the flesh, he has by his first birth contracted the contagion of the old death; who is on this very account more easily admitted to receive remission of sins, in that, not his own, but another's sins are ...

— The Ancient Church - Its History, Doctrine, Worship, and Constitution • W.D. [William Dool] Killen

... for the latest news, while all sorts of rumors filled the air. A feeling of mingled horror and despair appeared to possess everybody. . . . Our soldiers came straggling into the city covered with dust and many of them wounded, while the panic that led to the disaster spread like a contagion through all classes." The President did not share the panic. He "received the news quietly and without any visible sign of perturbation or excitement"'(10) Now appeared in him the quality which led Herndon to call him a fatalist. All night long he sat unruffled in his office, while refugees ...

— Lincoln • Nathaniel Wright Stephenson

... noticeable. He made one or two violent efforts to spur her flagging spirits and then, becoming touched by the contagion of her reserve, lapsed himself into silence. They sat and sipped their lemonades, thoughtfully inspecting their straws, dolefully ruminative. Their little table was like a blot on a snow-white ...

— Stubble • George Looms

... to him Nodwengo, and last of the three John. They drew near to the king, when suddenly, moved by a common impulse, the thousands of the people upon the banks of the stream with one accord threw themselves upon their knees before Owen, calling him God and offering him worship. Infected by the contagion, Umsuka, his guard and his councillors followed their example, so that of all the multitude Hokosa alone remained upon his feet, standing by his ...

— The Wizard • H. Rider Haggard

... or sympathy, might be forgotten, but no one can forget the child among the disciples, nor the raptured gaze of the blind man when his purged eyes open to behold the face of his miraculous Physician, nor the picture of Jesus touching without fear or disgust the leper whose unclean contagion made him an object of aversion even to ...

— The Empire of Love • W. J. Dawson

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