canker Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun a fungal disease of woody plants that causes localized damage to the bark
  2. noun an ulceration (especially of the lips or lining of the mouth)
    canker sore.
  3. noun a pernicious and malign influence that is hard to get rid of
    pestilence.
    • racism is a pestilence at the heart of the nation
    • according to him, I was the canker in their midst
  4. verb become infected with a canker
  5. verb infect with a canker

WordNet

Can"ker noun
Etymology
OE. canker, cancre, AS. cancer (akin to D. kanker, OHG chanchar.), fr. L. cancer a cancer; or if a native word, cf. Gr. excrescence on tree, gangrene. Cf. also OF. cancre, F. chancere, fr. L. cancer. See cancer, and cf. Chancre.
Definitions
  1. A corroding or sloughing ulcer; esp. a spreading gangrenous ulcer or collection of ulcers in or about the mouth; -- called also water canker, canker of the mouth, and noma.
  2. Anything which corrodes, corrupts, or destroy.
    The cankers of envy and faction. Temple.
  3. (Hort.) A disease incident to trees, causing the bark to rot and fall off.
  4. (Far.) An obstinate and often incurable disease of a horse's foot, characterized by separation of the horny portion and the development of fungoid growths; -- usually resulting from neglected thrush.
  5. A kind of wild, worthless rose; the dog-rose.
    To put down Richard, that sweet lovely rose. And plant this thorm, this canker, Bolingbroke. Shak.
Can"ker transitive verb
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Cankered ; present participle & verbal noun Cankering
Definitions
  1. To affect as a canker; to eat away; to corrode; to consune.
    No lapse of moons can canker Love. Tennyson.
  2. To infect or pollute; to corrupt. Addison.
    A tithe purloined canker the whole estate. Herbert.
Can"ker intransitive verb
Definitions
  1. To waste away, grow rusty, or be oxidized, as a mineral. Obs.
    Silvering will sully and canker more than gliding. Bacom.
  2. To be or become diseased, or as if diseased, with canker; to grow corrupt; to become venomous.
    Deceit and cankered malice. Dryden.
    As with age his body uglier grows, So his mind cankers. Shak.

Webster 1913