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fester

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

See also:Fester

English

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WOTD – 7 September 2017

Etymology

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Inherited fromMiddle Englishfestre,festur, borrowed fromOld Frenchfestre (cognate withItalianfistola,Occitanfistola,Spanishfístula), fromLatinfistula. The verb is derived from the noun, while the “condition of something that festers” noun sense is derived from the verb.Doublet offistula.

Pronunciation

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(Received Pronunciation)IPA^(key): /ˈfɛstə(ɹ)/
(General American)IPA^(key): /ˈfɛstɚ/
Audio(Received Pronunciation): (file)
Audio(General Australian): (file)
Rhymes:-ɛstə(ɹ)
Hyphenation:fes‧ter

Noun

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fester (pluralfesters)

(pathology, obsolete) Afistula.
(pathology) Asore or anulcer of theskin.
- 1848,Samuel Maunder, “SPIDERS. (Arachnida.)”, inThe Treasury of Natural History; or, A Popular Dictionary of Animated Nature: In which the Zoological Characteristics that Distinguish the Different Classes, Genera, and Species, are Combined with a Variety of Interesting Information Illustrative of the Habits, Instincts, and General Economy of the Animal Kingdom. To which are Added, a Syllabus of Practical Taxidermy, and a Glossarial Appendix.[...], London:Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans,Paternoster-Row,→OCLC,page637, column 1:
  The larger the Spider, the warmer the climate or season of the year, and the more susceptible the wounded individual, so much worse will the effects be; and it is no therefore no wonder that people who would have afester from a simple prick with a needle, should feel more violent effects from the bite of a Spider.
- 1861, Benjamin Ridge, “Medical and Self Torture”, inOurselves, Our Food, and Our Physic, London:Chapman and Hall, 193Piccadilly,→OCLC,page68:
  While to the fingers and toes, which are frequently the seat of spontaneousfesters, &c., irritation is kept up [if a hot poultice is applied], the skin is thickened, and rendered less liable to be permeated by matter; the heat is driven down the soft structures to the very bones and joints, and a portion of them may be lost in consequence.
- 1864 July, “The Rim. Part III.—Conclusion.”, inThe Atlantic Monthly. A Magazine of Literature, Art, and Politcs, volume XIV, number LXXXI, Boston, Mass.:Ticknor and Fields, 135,Washington Street; London:Trübner and Company,→OCLC,page68:
  He has been away so long and so often, there has been such mismanagement under a long minority, such changes and such misrule, such a hard hand and such a high hand, that the whole place is afester.
Thecondition of something that festers; afestering; afesterment.

Verb

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fester (third-person singular simple presentfesters,present participlefestering,simple past and past participlefestered)

(intransitive) To becomeseptic; to becomerotten.
- 1485,Thomas Malory,Le Morte Darthur Book XIX, Chapter x,leaf 394v:
  and she for the despyte of her sones dethe wrought by her subtyl craftes that syr Vrre shold neuer be hole but euer his woundes shold one tymefeyster & another tyme blede
  "and she, for the despite of her son’s death, wrought by her subtle crafts that Sir Urre should never be whole, but ever his wounds should one timefester and another time bleed"
- 1671,John Milton, “Samson Agonistes, […].”, inParadise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: […] J[ohn] M[acock] for John Starkey […],→OCLC,page42, lines521–523:
  [W]ounds immedicable / Ranckle, andfeſter, and gangrene, / To black mortification.
- 2014,Lu Hsiu-lien, Ashley Esarey,My Fight for a New Taiwan‎^[1],University of Washington Press,→ISBN,→LCCN,→OCLC,→OL,page240:
  On the day of my inauguration, the director of the Nationalist Party county office ordered the Chungli mayor to stop trash collection. Because I could not command the Chungli sanitation department directly—it is administered at the local level—piles of garbage began tofester on the streets.
- 2017 February 23, Katie Rife, “The Girl With All The Gifts tries to put a fresh spin on overripe zombie clichés”, inThe A.V. Club‎^[2]:
  Here, Melanie once again provides an interesting variation on the formula, serving as a scout and ambassador between worlds. Don't expect anything new from her human counterparts, though, just the usual shooting and running and hiding slowlyfestering flesh wounds.
(intransitive) Toworsen, especially due tolack ofattention.
Deal with the problem immediately; do not let itfester.
- 1855,Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter XVII, inThe History of England from the Accession of James the Second, volume IV, London:Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans,→OCLC,page116:
  All this time hatred, kept down by fear,festered in the hearts of the children of the soil.
- 2024 April 3, Philip Haigh, “Discord over Avanti West Coast is part of a wider problem”, inRAIL, number1006, page53:
  But the longer the problems are left tofester, the worse they will become.
(transitive) To cause to fester orrankle.
- c. 1599–1600,John Marston,Antonios Reuenge. The Second Part. As it hath beene Sundry Times Acted, by theChildren of Paules, London: Printed [by Richard Bradock] for Thomas Fisher, and are to be soulde [by Matthew Lownes] inSaint Dunstans Church-yarde, published 1602,→OCLC, Act I, scene i; republished inJ[ames] O[rchard] Halliwell, editor,The Works of John Marston. Reprinted from the Original Editions. With Notes, and some Account of His Life and Writings. [...]In Three Volumes, volume I, London:John Russell Smith,Soho Square, 1856,→OCLC,page 74:
  For which I burnt in inward sweltring hate, / Andfestred rankling malice in my breast, / Till I might belke revenge upon his eyes: […]