pesti

a. [ L. pestiferus, pestifer; pestis pest + ferre to bear: cf. F. pestifère. ] 1. Pest-bearing; pestilential; noxious to health; malignant; infectious; contagious; as, pestiferous bodies. “Poor, pestiferous creatures begging alms.” Evelyn. “Unwholesome and pestiferous occupations.” Burke. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Noxious to peace, to morals, or to society; vicious; hurtful; destructive; as, a pestiferous demagogue. [ 1913 Webster ]

Pestiferous reports of men very nobly held. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. In a pestiferous manner. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ F. pestilence, L. pestilentia. See Pestilent. ] 1. Specifically, the disease known as the plague; hence, any contagious or infectious epidemic disease that is virulent and devastating. [ 1913 Webster ]

The pestilence that walketh in darkness. Ps. xci. 6. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Fig.: That which is pestilent, noxious, or pernicious to the moral character of great numbers. [ 1913 Webster ]

I'll pour this pestilence into his ear. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

Pestilence weed (Bot.), the butterbur coltsfoot (Petasites vulgaris), so called because formerly considered a remedy for the plague. Dr. Prior. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. pestilens, -entis, fr. pestis pest: cf. F. pestilent. ] Pestilential; noxious; pernicious; mischievous. “Corrupt and pestilent.” Milton. “What a pestilent knave is this same!” Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ Cf. F. pestilentiel. ] 1. Having the nature or qualities of a pestilence. “Sends the pestilential vapors.” Longfellow. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Hence: Mischievous; noxious; pernicious; morally destructive. [ 1913 Webster ]

So pestilential, so infectious a thing is sin. Jer. Taylor. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. Pestilently. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Pestilential. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. In a pestilent manner; mischievously; destructively. “Above all measure pestilently noisome.” Dr. H. More. [ 1913 Webster ]