Pes"ti*lence (?), 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.
The pestilence That walketh in
darkness.
Ps. xci. 6.
2. Fig.: That which is pestilent, noxious, or
pernicious to the moral character of great numbers.
I'll pour this pestilence into his
ear.
Shak.
Pestilence weed (Bot.), the butterbur
coltsfoot (Petasites vulgaris), so called because formerly
considered a remedy for the plague. Dr. Prior.