▪ I. † inˈfect, a. Obs. rare.
[ad. L. infect-us, f. in- (in-3) + facĕre to make.]
Incomplete, imperfect.
| 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xvii. ii. (Add. MS. 27944) lf. 212/1 Grene is þe myddil colour bitwene reed, þat comeþ of the accioun and worchyng of perfyt hete and bytwen white þat comeþ of infecte. |
▪ II. † infect, ppl. a. Obs.
Also 4–6 enfect(e.
[a. F. infect (Oresme, 14th c.), or ad. L. infect-us, pa. pple. of inficĕre: see next. The spelling with en- was rather English than French. OF. had also infaict, -fait, -fet, enfait (f. infaire: see next), whence ME. enfeit (c 1400 Three Kings Cologne 124).]
= infected: Often construed as pa. pple. of next.
1. Affected materially, usually detrimentally; hence (a) dimmed, (b) stained, polluted, (c) made invalid, (d) exhausted.
| c 1374 Chaucer Boeth. iv. met. v. 103 (Camb. MS.) Why þat the hornes of the fulle Moene wexen paale & Infect by bowndes of the derke nyht. 1382 Wyclif 2 Macc. xii. 15 The pool of stondynge water..infect [gloss or meyned] with blood was seen to flowe. c 1386 Chaucer Prol. 320 So greet a purchasour was nowher noon Al was fee symple to hym in effect His purchasyng myghte nat been infect [v.r. enfect]. c 1420 Pallad. on Husb. i. 294 A gret labour is to correcte A moold in this maner that is enfecte. |
2. Tainted with disease or organic corruption.
| 1382 Wyclif Lev. xiii. 48 A..skynne, if it were infect with whijt or reed wemme, it shal be holdun a lepre. c 1440 Jacob's Well (E.E.T.S.) 5 Corrupt watyr, stynkynge and infecte, of which watyr ȝif þou drynke or vse, þou schalt be enpoysonyd. 1518 in W. H. Turner Select. Rec. Oxford (1880) 18 As well from London as from other infect places. 1525 Ld. Berners Froiss. II. cv. [ci.] 306 Dyuers that were enfecte with sickenesse..coulde not scape the peryle of dethe. 1540 Act 32 Hen. VIII, c. 13 §7 Any hors gelding or mare infect with scabbe or mange. |
b. Of a disease: Caused by infection.
| 1541 R. Copland Guydon's Quest. Chirurg., Maner exam. lazares Q ij b, Scantly the chylde scapeth lepry, or to be scalled, or tached with suche infecte dyseases. |
3. Tainted or contaminated with some fault, defect, or vice, with evil habit, false doctrine, etc. Also, culpably involved in, guilty of.
| c 1380 Wyclif Wks. (1880) 379 We may se..how þe clergi is wondirfulle enfect wiþ symonye & heresie. 1496 Dives & Paup. (W. de W.) vi. x. 248/1 Woman was lesse infecte in the fyrste pryuaricacyon than was man. 1497 Bp. Alcock Mons Perfect. D iij, Infecte of ydolatry in worshyppynge fals goddes. c 1586 C'tess Pembroke Ps. cvi. x, Their sonns, with fathers fault infect. a 1612 Harington Brief View Ch. 54 (T.) A blinded eye, a closed ear, A hand with bribe infect. 1617 Machivell's Dogge in Farr S.P. Jas. I (1848) 204 Heale the infect of sinne with oyle of grace. |
b. simply. Morally corrupted; contaminated; infected with sedition.
| c 1400 Lydg. æsop's Fab. iii. 140 A false witnesse hath his avauntage With mowth infect alwey to do damage. 1509 Barclay Shyp of Folys (1874) I. 5 Holsom medicyne which gaue vnto infect myndes frutful doctryne and norisshinge. 1606 Shakes. Tr. & Cr. i. iii. 187 And in the imitation of these twaine..many are infect. 1607 Tourneur Rev. Trag. iv. iii, For whose infect perswasions I could scarce Kneele out my prayers. |
▪ III. infect, v.
(ɪnˈfɛkt)
Also 4–6 enfect(e, 6 Sc. infeck; 4–5 pa. tense and pple. in-, enfecte.
[ad. L. infect-, ppl. stem of inficĕre to dip in, stain, taint, impregnate, spoil, etc., f. in- (in-2) + facĕre to make, do, put. Cf. F. infecter (16th c.); in older Fr. the popular form was in-, enfaire, with pa. pple. in-, enfait (see prec.).]
To imbue a person or thing with certain (esp. bad) qualities; said either of the personal or material agent.
1. trans. To affect, influence, or imbue with some quality or property by immersion or infusion. † a. To dye, tinge, colour, stain. Obs.
| 1495 Trevisa's Barth. De P.R. xvi. xxxvii. (W. de W.), Electrum receyueth sone colour and hewe in what manere a man woll and so it is soone enfected [MSS. infecte]..wyth Percyl. 1623 Lisle ælfric on O. & N. Test. Ded. xxvi, Nor shall we more with artificiall hew, Infect our fells, by teaching them to faine What Nature gaue not. 1633 P. Fletcher Purple Isl. ii. xvii, His native beautie is a lilie white, Which still some other colour'd stream infecteth. 1691 Ray Creation ii. (1692) 23 To those that have the Jaundice..objects appear of that same Color wherewith their Eyes are infected. |
b. To impregnate or imbue with some qualifying substance, or active principle, as poison, or salt; to taint. Obs. or rare.
| 1553 Eden Treat. Newe Ind. (Arb.) 23 They vse also to infect theyr arrowes with venime. 1563 W. Fulke Meteors (1640) 64 b, Salt..is first generated in the earth, after commeth the water of the Sea, and is infected with it. 1601 Holland Pliny I. 44 The nature of the earth infecteth the waters, as it were, with some strong medicine. 1613 Purchas Pilgrimage (1614) 646 He tempered a poyson for that purpose, with which a weapon infected, drawing never so little bloud, did kill. 1680 Boyle Scept. Chem. i. 68 Upon the unluting the Vessels it infected the Room with a scarce supportable stink. 1853 Kane Grinnell Exp. xxxiii. (1856) 288 Our snow-water has been infected for the past month by a very perceptible flavor and odor of musk. |
† 2. To affect injuriously or unpleasantly; to spoil or corrupt by noxious influence, admixture, or alloy; to adulterate. Obs.
| c 1420 Pallad. on Husb. vi. 177 Att Mayes eende a solar is to paue, And rather [earlier] not, lest frostis hit enfecte. 1563 W. Fulke Meteors (1640) 67 Copper..giveth way to corruption, being infected with that greene minerall Copperas. 1576 Gascoigne Steele Gl. (Arb.) 80 When pewterers infect no Tin with leade. 1590 Lodge Euphues Gold. Leg. (ed. Collier) 100 The synople tree, whose blossomes delight the smell, and whose fruit infects the taste. 1599 B. Jonson Ev. Man out of Hum. Epil. 8 Our cities torrent (bent t'infect The hallow'd bowels of the silver Thames). 1693 Dryden tr. Persius vi. 91 Our sweating Hinds their Sallads, now, defile, Infecting homely Herbs with fragrant Oil. |
3. To impregnate or taint with deleterious qualities; to fill (the air, etc.) with noxious corruption or the germs of disease; to render injurious to health.
| c 1375 Sc. Leg. Saints, George 51 A serpent fel..Þat of his aynd infect þe ayre. 1483 Caxton Gold. Leg. 415 b/2 A dragon right venomous..whiche enfected soo the place that nothyng grewe aboute hym. 1542 Boorde Dyetary iii. (1870) 236 Many thynges doth infect, putryfye, and corrupteth the ayre. 1599 Shakes. Much Ado ii. i. 257 If her breath were as terrible as [her] terminations, there were no liuing neere her, she would infect to the north starre. 1635 Swan Spec. M. v. §2 (1643) 122 The matter of lightning..is much infected, and therefore hurteth where it entereth. 1717 Lady M. W. Montagu Let. to Miss Sara Chiswell 1 Apr., There are many that escape it [the plague]; neither is the air ever infected. 1885 S. Cox Expos. Ser. i. ii. 23 The carcase would but rot and fester and infect the air. |
| fig. c 1400 Destr. Troy 936 He Enfecte the ffirmament with his felle noise. |
4. To affect (a person, animal, or part of the body) with disease; to communicate a morbific virus or noxious germs so as to generate disease; to act upon by infection or contagion. Also absol.
| c 1386 Chaucer Manciple's Prol. 39 Hoold cloos thy mouth..Thy cursed breeth infecte wole vs alle. 1483 Caxton Gold. Leg. 262 b/2 All they that were vexed and seke and the fyre of pestylence had infected. 1538 Bale Thre Lawes 286 The ayre whych geueth breathe, Sumtyme infecteth to deathe. 1548 Hall Chron., Hen. VIII 176 b, Neither he nor the quene nor none of their company was enfected of y⊇ disease. 1628 Wither Brit. Rememb. ii. 449 Right so, this Plague..infects (At such or such a distance) ev'ry one. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg. iii. 671 The Causes and the Signs shall next be told, Of ev'ry Sickness that infects the Fold. 1722 De Foe Plague 37 Persons infected with plague. 1845 Budd Dis. Liver 309 The lungs were infected, as well as the liver. |
b. transf. and fig. Used of influences whose operation or effect is (expressly or by implication) compared to that of an infectious disease.
| c 1385 Chaucer L.G.W. 2242 Philomela, Ȝit lestyth the venym of so longe ago That it enfectyth [v.r. infecteth] hym that wele [v.r. wyll] beholde The storye of Therius. c 1421 Hoccleve Complaint 235 This grevous venyme that had enfectyd and wildyd my brayne. 1548 Hall Chron., Hen. VII 30 She compassed, ymagened, and invented how..to infect his whole realme with a pestiferous discorde. 1697 Dryden æneid ii. 733 With a Son's death t'infect a Father's sight. 1784 Cowper Task v. 606 All the plagues with which his sins Infect his happiest moments. 1821 Shelley Prometh. Unb. iii. iv. 148 The wretch crept a vampire among men, Infecting all with his own hideous ill. |
5. To taint with moral corruption; to deprave; to exert a bad influence upon character or habits.
| c 1374 Chaucer Boeth. iv. pr. iii. 94 (Camb. MS.) The vtteriste wikkednesse..ne defowleth ne entechcheth nat hem oonly but infectyth and enuenymeth hem gretly. c 1460 J. Russell Bk. Nurture 1249 Now, good god, graunt vs grace oure sowles neuer to Infecte! 1482 Monk of Evesham (Arb.) 69 With her wyckydnes they haue al moste enfecte and cumbrid alle the howse. 1535 Stewart Cron. Scot. II. 245 He wes..Infectit far with auerice that syn. 1574 G. Scott in Farr S.P. Eliz. (1845) II. 522 Rome is a cage of birdes uncleane,..Few errours haue the Church infect, That dyd not there begynne. 1667 Milton P.L. x. 608 Till I in Man residing,..His thoughts, his looks, words, actions all infect, And season him thy last and sweetest prey. 1751 Johnson Rambler No. 155 ¶12 Indolence is..one of the vices from which those whom it infects are seldom reformed. 1833 Cruse Eusebius ii. i. 50 These, after the manner of their founder,..infected those with the greatest corruption. |
6. To taint with crime; to involve in crime or its penalties.
| 1580 Lyly Euphues (Arb.) 314 If any English-man be infected with any mysdemeanour. 1602 W. Fulbecke 1st Pt. Parall. 79 If one say to an other that he is infected of the robbery and murder lately committed and smels of the murder, an action vpon the case will lye for these wordes. 1651 W. G. tr. Cowel's Inst. 271 Moreover the Issue of Felons is so infected, that they are excluded from all hope or possibility of succeeding in the Inheritances of their Ancestors, which otherwise should have descended to them. 1828 in Webster; hence in mod. Dicts. |
b. Internat. Law. To taint or contaminate with illegality; to involve (a ship or cargo) in the seizure or forfeiture to which contraband or prohibited goods, or an enemy's ship, are liable. Cf. infection 8, infectious 6.
| a 1758 Sir G. Lee in F. T. Pratt Law of Contraband (1867) 170 Soap and potashes are not contraband, but as they belong to the same owners..they by law are liable to confiscation by being infected by the contraband. 1879 Woolsey tr. Treaty of Utrecht in Introd. Internat. Law (ed. 5) §198. 342 The ship itself, as well as the other goods found therein, are to be esteemed free, neither may they be detained on pretense of their being, as it were, infected by the prohibited goods. |
7. To imbue with an opinion or belief, esp. a pernicious one, as heresy or seditious views; † formerly sometimes used in a good or neutral sense. Also said of the opinion, etc.
| 1483 Caxton Gold. Leg. 232/2 Whan the heresye of the arryans had enfected al Italye. 1494 Fabyan Chron. v. cxxxiii. 117 Y⊇ cursyd secte of y{supt} detestable & false prophete Machomet..hath enfectyd .ii. pryncypall partis of y⊇ worlde. 1559 J. Whyte Serm. in Strype Ann. Ref. (1824) I. vii. 154 Books..full of pestilent doctrines, blasphemy and heresy, to infect the people. 1588 Marprel. Epist. (Arb.) 24 Being infected by him with the true knowledge of the gospell. 1660 Trial Regic. 55 The end of your Speech is nothing, but to infect the People. 1782 Priestley Corrupt. Chr. I. i. 23 Philosophical opinions..had then begun to infect the Jews. 1882 J. H. Blunt Ref. Ch. Eng. II. 226 These foreign religionists had infected their English friends..with their opinions. |
8. To affect (a person) with some feeling, esp. by force of influence or example. Also of feelings: To seize upon, take hold of.
| 1595 Shakes. John iv. iii. 69 A holy Vow..Neuer to taste the pleasures of the world, Neuer to be infected with delight. 1611 ― Wint. T. i. ii. 262 'Twas a feare Which oft infects the wisest. 1667 Milton P.L. i. 453 The Love-tale Infected Sions daughters with like heat. 1765 H. Walpole Otranto ii. (1798) 33 Your terrors, I suppose, have infected me. 1828 Scott F.M. Perth xxxiv, The frenzy of rage and despair, infected next the minstrels. 1885 Mabel Collins Prettiest Woman vii, Her gaiety infected him. |
9. To affect or influence with some quality, or by the introduction of some extraneous element.
| 1605 Bacon Adv. Learn. i. v. §7 Men have used to infect their meditations, opinions, and doctrines, with some conceits which they have most admired. a 1680 Butler Rem. (1759) II. 217 His Muse is not inspired but infected with another Man's Fancy. 1750 Johnson Rambler No. 71 ¶9 Forgetfulness of the fragility of life has remarkably infected the students of monuments. 1883 Froude Short Stud. IV. i. v. 56 The enthusiasm of the biographers for their master and his cause infects every line of their narratives. |
b. spec. Of a sound: To affect and alter the quality of a sound in a neighbouring syllable, as takes place especially in the Celtic languages. (Cf. infection 11.)
(Introduced in L. form inficere by Zeuss Gram. Celt. I. 3.)
| 1872 [see infected 4]. 1885 Stokes in Trans. Philol. Soc. 179 [Final] -a (Indo-Eur. ā) is lost, but infects a following consonant and breaks a preceding i or u. Ibid. 205 Toneless or grave e becomes a or i, or (after infecting a previous vowel) is lost. |
† 10. To infest, beset noisomely. Obs. [So F. infecter in La Fontaine and Buffon (Littré).]
| 1547 Boorde Brev. Health §119 It is kynd of spirites, the which doth infect and trouble men when they be in theyr beddes slepynge. 1607 Topsell Four-f. Beasts (1658) 177 Foxes are annoyed with many enemies..the small flies, called Gnats, do much trouble and infect them. 1654 H. L'Estrange Chas. I (1655) 130 His coasts were..infected with Pickroons, Turks, and Dunkirk-Pirats to the great dammage of traffique. 1712 W. Rogers Voy. (1718) 319 Much infected with serpents, moskittos, and other insects. |
† 11. intr. To become infected (in various senses).
| c 1420 Pallad. on Husb. xi. 350 Lest they [wines] enfecte is ferther now to trete. 1500–20 Dunbar Poems xxxv. 30 Thir terrible monsteris sall togidder thrist..Quhill all the air infeck of thair pvsoun. a 1529 Skelton Image Ipocr. iv. 2 Nowe with sondry sectes The world sore infectes. 1589 Cogan Haven Health (1636) 318 All infected in a manner at one instant, by reason of a dampe or mist which arose. 1597 Montgomery Cherrie & Slae 1354 Luke quhat laiks for his releif Or furder he infeck. |
Add: [4.] [b.] spec. to affect with a computer virus.
| 1984 Finch & Dougall Computer Security 144 We define a computer ‘virus’ as a program that can ‘infect’ other programs by modifying them to include a possibly evolved copy of itself. 1989 Star-Ledger (Newark, New Jersey) 13 Oct. 14/4 That person had received a floppy disk from Europe which had infected the system. 1990 Times 1 May 3/6 China is admitting that one in ten of its computers are infected with five virus types which have been spreading round the world. |