释义 |
Definition of anthrax in English: anthraxnoun ˈanθraksˈænˌθræks mass nounA serious bacterial disease of sheep and cattle, typically affecting the skin and lungs. It can be transmitted to humans, causing severe skin ulceration (malignant pustule) or a form of pneumonia (wool-sorters' disease). Example sentencesExamples - The new test can identify the presence of anthrax in less than one hour instead of days.
- First of all, smallpox, anthrax, and the like are hard to spread effectively.
- In New York five people are confirmed to have been exposed to the bacterium, of whom two have developed anthrax.
- An early suspicion that anthrax might have been the cause of the infection has been discounted.
- Any doctor could learn as much about anthrax through reading a newspaper as they could through reading a medical text.
Origin Late Middle English: Latin, 'carbuncle' (the earliest sense in English), from Greek anthrax, anthrak- 'coal, carbuncle', with reference to the skin ulceration in humans. anthracite from late 16th century: Originally an anthracite was a gem described by Pliny as resembling coals. The word is from Greek anthrakitēs, from anthrax, anthrak- ‘coal’ or ‘carbuncle’ (meaning both a red gem like a glowing coal, and a swelling that looks like one). The same word is the source of the disease anthrax (Late Middle English) which causes black lesions in humans. Carbuncle (Middle English) itself keeps the same image, coming from Latin carbunculus ‘small coal’ from carbo ‘coal, charcoal’, the source of words such as carbon (late 18th century).
Definition of anthrax in US English: anthraxnounˈænˌθræksˈanˌTHraks A serious bacterial disease of sheep and cattle, typically affecting the skin and lungs. It can be transmitted to humans, causing severe skin ulceration (malignant pustule) or a form of pneumonia (wool-sorters' disease). Example sentencesExamples - An early suspicion that anthrax might have been the cause of the infection has been discounted.
- Any doctor could learn as much about anthrax through reading a newspaper as they could through reading a medical text.
- In New York five people are confirmed to have been exposed to the bacterium, of whom two have developed anthrax.
- First of all, smallpox, anthrax, and the like are hard to spread effectively.
- The new test can identify the presence of anthrax in less than one hour instead of days.
Origin Late Middle English: Latin, ‘carbuncle’ (the earliest sense in English), from Greek anthrax, anthrak- ‘coal, carbuncle’, with reference to the skin ulceration in humans. |