infectressn.
/ɪnˈfɛktrᵻs/, U.S. /ᵻnˈfɛktrəs/ Now rare.
A female who infects a person with disease (esp. syphilis). Also figurative.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > aspects of emotion > effect produced on emotions > infectious quality of emotion > [noun] > one who is infectious > female
infectress1860
1860 E. B. Pusey Minor Prophets 301 How Lachish came first to apostatise and to be the infectress of Judah, Scripture does not tell.
1869 Westm. Rev. Jan. 564 Difficulties are created in the case of true syphilis by the very long incubation-time.., at the end of which time the infected man may (for obvious reasons) be in utter ambiguity as to his infectress.
1908 E. L. Keyes Syphilis 243 The minutest examination of the infectress may fail to reveal the slightest infectious lesion.
1980 ‘A. Burgess’ in Times Lit. Suppl. 17 Oct. 1177/4 The girls of Siam were the great infectresses, but the Malays came a close second.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2012; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1860