Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun An outbreak of virulent plague, especially its bubonic form, that killed large numbers of people throughout Europe and much of Asia in the 14th century.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • A pestilence which ravaged Europe and Asia in the fourteenth century.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • proper noun pathology, historical A pandemic outbreak (often attributed to bubonic plague) throughout Europe and most of Asia in the 14th century that killed nearly half the population of Europe and Asia.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun the epidemic form of bubonic plague experienced during the Middle Ages when it killed nearly half the people of western Europe

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Ultimately translation of Scandinavian terms for the bubonic plague, such as Swedish (den) svarta döden, (the) black death (possibly in reference to the dark lesions and gangrene caused by bubonic plague, or to the general gloom prevailing during epidemics ) : svart, black + död, death.]

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Examples

  • The name Black Death was coined because this disease caused hemorrhages to occur under the skin, visible as black marks.

    Modern Science in the Bible Ben Hobrink 2011

  • The name Black Death was coined because this disease caused hemorrhages to occur under the skin, visible as black marks.

    Modern Science in the Bible Ben Hobrink 2011

  • The name Black Death was coined because this disease caused hemorrhages to occur under the skin, visible as black marks.

    Modern Science in the Bible Ben Hobrink 2011

  • The name Black Death was coined because this disease caused hemorrhages to occur under the skin, visible as black marks.

    Modern Science in the Bible Ben Hobrink 2011

  • Jimmy was now sixteen, and had started hanging around with a garage band called Black Death.

    The Unforgiven Patricia MacDonald 1981

  • Somehow Mundy managed to imply that the Black Death was a fairly recent disaster in those parts, if not actually within living memory.

    A Murder of Quality Le Carre, John, 1931- 1962

  • The plague called the Black Death, born in the Levant and rushing like a destroying flood with terrifying rapidity over the borders of Switzerland, penetrated even into the mountain-encircled country of Count Pierre.

    The Counts of Gruyère Mrs. Reginald de Koven

  • Finally, a furious plague, called the Black Death, burst like a blast on the land, thinning the population and throwing the work of the world into ruin.

    A Short History of England 1905

  • Anne's monopoly of the slave traffic as it recalls the Black Death in

    The Battle of Principles A Study of the Heroism and Eloquence of the Anti-Slavery Conflict Newell Dwight Hillis 1893

  • Europe was ravaged by the dreadful plague known as the Black Death, and France was the scene of the terrible peasant rising called the Jacquerie.

    Historic Boys Their Endeavours, Their Achievements, and Their Times Elbridge Streeter Brooks 1874

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