▪ I. fester, n.
(ˈfɛstə(r))
Forms: 4–6 festre, festure, (5 festyre), 4– fester.
[a. OF. festre (for the change in termination from -le to -re cf. Fr. chapitre, épître: see chapitle, epistle) = Pr., Sp., It. fistola:—L. fistula: see fistula.]
1. In early use = fistula; subsequently, a rankling sore, an ulcer. In mod. use: ‘A superficial suppuration resulting from irritation of the skin’ (Quain Dict. Med. 1882).
| a 1300 Cursor M. 11824 (Cott.) Þe fester thrild his bodi thurgh. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. vii. lix. (1495) 275 To the Canker and Festure [orig. fistulam]. Ibid. xvii. xiv, Festre. c 1400 Lanfranc's Cirurg. 89 Festre..haþ wiþinne him a calose hardnesse al aboute as it were a goos penne or ellis a kane. Ibid. 292 Þis hole is clepid a festre of þe ers. 1547 Boorde Brev. Health xxv. 15 b, The pyles or Emerodes, Fystles, and Festures. 1607 Topsell Four-f. Beasts (1658) 501 Sheeps wool..mingled with Hony is very medicinable for old sores or festers. |
| fig. 1834 Lytton Pompeii iv. ii, Thus, in the rankling festers of the mind, our art is..to divert..the pain. |
† 2. A cicatrice, scar. Obs.
| 14.. Nom. in Wr.-Wülcker 708 Hec cicatrix, a festyre. 1483 Cath. Angl. 128/2 A Fester, cicatrix. 1541 R. Copland Galyen's Terapeutyke 2 H j b, Yf ye wyl bryng y⊇ vlcere to a festre. |
3. [from the vb.] The action or process of causing a fester; = festering vbl. n.
| 1860 I. Taylor Ultimate Civilization 117 Used to the fester of the chain upon their necks. |
▪ II. fester, v.
(ˈfɛstə(r))
Forms: 5 fe(e)stryn, (feestern), (5 festur, feyster), 5–6 festyr, (6 feaster), 4– fester.
[f. prec. n.; OF. had festrir in similar senses.]
1. intr. Of a wound or sore: To become a fester, to gather or generate pus or matter, to ulcerate.
| 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. xvii. 92 So festred ben his woundis. 1414 Brampton Penit. Ps. xxxv. (Percy Soc.) 18 My woundes festryn and rotyn with inne. 1530 Palsgr. 548/2 Though this wounde be closed above, yet it feastreth byneth and is full of mater. 1635 R. Bolton Comf. Affl. Consc. xvi. 315 Draw a skinne onely over the spirituall wound whereby it festers and rankles underneath more dangerously. 1747 Wesley Prim. Physic (1762) 92 A Prick or cut that festers. 1862 Merivale Rom. Emp. V. xliii. 205 The wound festered in silence and concealment. |
b. Of poison, an imbedded arrow, a disease: To envenom the surrounding parts progressively; to rankle. Hence fig. of resentment, grief, etc.
| 1589 R. Harvey Pl. Perc. (1860) 18 His owne poison would haue festered in his owne flesh. a 1639 Wotton in Reliq. (1651) 112 There had been ancient quarrels..which might perhaps lye festering in his breast. 1695 Blackmore Pr. Arth. iii. 489 Th' Almighty's Arrows Fester in their Heart. 1781 J. Moore View Soc. It. (1790) I. xii. 132 A strong resentment..festered in the breasts of some individuals. 1869 Lecky Europ. Mor. II. v. 301 An appalling amount of moral evil is festering uncontrolled. 1871 Freeman Norm. Conq. (1876) IV. xviii. 119 The troubles of Saxony..if they had not yet broken forth, were already festering in silence. 1874 Green Short Hist. iii. §6. 145 Fever or plague..festered in the wretched hovels. |
c. to fester into: to become or pass into by festering, lit. and fig.
| c 1420 Pallad. on Husb. xi. 49 But kytte not to nygh, lest thai..feestern into a wounde. 1777 Burke Let. Sheriffs of Bristol Wks. III. 141 Smitten pride smarting from its wounds, festers into new rancour. 1790 ― Fr. Rev. 212, I must bear with infirmities until they fester into crimes. |
2. To putrefy, rot; to become pestiferous or loathsome by corruption.
| 1540 Taverner Epist. Ester daye, Postil, The leven of malice roted & festred in us. 1599 Shakes. Hen. V, iv. iii. 28 These fields: where (wretches) their poore bodies Must lye and fester. c 1600 ― Sonn. xciv, Lillies that fester smell far worse then weedes. 1628 Prynne Cens. Cozens 70 Their sickly Soules fester, rot and pine away. c 1820 S. Rogers Italy, Lake of Geneva 33 Ere long to die..And fester with the vilest. 1883 Century Mag. June 218/1 The slimy old moat that once festered under the palisade wall. |
3. trans. To cause festering in (lit. and fig.); to allow (malice) to rankle.
| 1579 Lyly Euphues (Arb.) 47 All which humors are by so much the more easier to be purged, by how much the lesse they haue festred the sinewes. 1602 Marston Antonio's Rev. i. i, I..festred rankling malice in my breast. 1697 Congreve Mourn. Bride iii. vi, Remorseless chains..festring thy limbs With rankling rust. 1706 Estcourt Fair Examp. v. i, Take heed, lest your ungentle Hand shou'd fester what you mean to heal. 1818 M. W. Shelley Frankenst. vi. (1865) 89 That will heal instead of festering, the wounds of our minds. 1850 Mrs. Browning Prometh. Bound Poems I. 148 A terror strikes through me, And festers my soul. |
| absol. a 1592 Greene Orpharion Wks. (Grosart) XII. 16 Giuing them one day an incarnatiue to heale, and the next day, a contrary medicine to fester. |
† 4. = cicatrize 1. Obs.
| c 1440 Bone Flor. 1945 The leche had helyd hyt ovyr tyte, And hyt was festurd wythowte delyte. 1541 R. Copland Galyen's Terapeutyke 2 F iv b, Lykewyse in the vlceres..that y{supt} is egal to be festred [Lat. Galen Methodi Med. iv. v, Quod æquabile est, cicatrice induci]. |