plague

«plague» in Mova's school dictionary: a serious disease that spreads quickly and kills many… — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 5 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

noun (a plague, plagues; the plague); verb (plague, plagues, plagued, plaguing)

meaning for a pupil

1) A plague is a serious disease that spreads quickly and kills many people; "the plague" usually means bubonic plague, the Black Death of the Middle Ages, spread by fleas on rats. tree →

2) (Bible) The ten plagues were the disasters God sent on Egypt in Exodus — such as frogs, locusts, darkness and the death of the firstborn — so Pharaoh would free the Israelites. tree →

3) A plague of something is a huge, annoying number of it: "a plague of wasps". tree →

4) To plague someone is to keep bothering or troubling them. tree →

5) An old-fashioned curse, such as "a plague on" someone, is a wish that something bad will happen to them. tree →

sense in the lessons

In history lessons, the Great Plague and the village of Eyam, which shut itself off to stop the spread, show courage and how germs spread. In science, pupils learn plague is caused by bacteria and can now be treated with antibiotics. In everyday talk, "avoid it like the plague" means stay right away. Phrases: the plague, a plague of locusts, the ten plagues, avoid like the plague, plagued by.

examples

• The plague spread through the city, carried by fleas on rats. tree →
• The fourth plague was swarms of flies. tree →
• Locusts came in a plague and ate the crops. tree →
• The village of Eyam stayed apart so the plague would not spread. tree →
• Our picnic was plagued by wasps. tree →
• I avoid spiders like the plague. tree →
• He was plagued by worries before the test. tree →
• A plague on the shrew and on her pudding! tree →

note

Countable (plagues), but "the plague" for the disease. Say "playg" — the -ue is silent (like vague, league). Verb forms plagued, plaguing.

In the corpora

• The nursery rhyme Ring a ring o' roses was written down hundreds of years later and is probably not about the plague.
• The famous beaked plague doctor mask comes from a later plague in the 1600s, not from the Black Death.
• After the plague so many workers had died that survivors could ask for higher pay, and many peasants won more freedom.
• Ten plagues struck Egypt, from the river Nile turning to blood to the death of the firstborn.
• And the LORD plagued Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai Abram's wife.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «plague» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.