quarantine Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun enforced isolation of patients suffering from a contagious disease in order to prevent the spread of disease
  2. noun isolation to prevent the spread of infectious disease
  3. verb place into enforced isolation, as for medical reasons
    • My dog was quarantined before he could live in England

WordNet

Quar"an*tine noun
Etymology
F. quarantaine, OF. quaranteine, fr. F. quarante forty, L. quadraginta, akin to quattuor four, and E. four: cf. It. quarantina, quarentine. See Four, and cf. Quadragesima.
Definitions
  1. A space of forty days; -- used of Lent.
  2. Specifically, the term, originally of forty days, during which a ship arriving in port, and suspected of being infected a malignant contagious disease, is obliged to forbear all intercourse with the shore; hence, such restraint or inhibition of intercourse; also, the place where infected or prohibited vessels are stationed. ✍ Quarantine is now applied also to any forced stoppage of travel or communication on account of malignant contagious disease, on land as well as by sea.
  3. (Eng. Law) The period of forty days during which the widow had the privilege of remaining in the mansion house of which her husband died seized.
Quar`an*tine" transitive verb
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Quarantined ; present participle & verbal noun Quarantining
Definitions
  1. To compel to remain at a distance, or in a given place, without intercourse, when suspected of having contagious disease; to put under, or in, quarantine.

Webster 1913