cankers

Noun

canker (countable and uncountable, plural cankers)

1. A plant disease marked by gradual decay.

   Synonyms:

   avian trichomoniasis, roup, frounce

2. A region of dead plant tissue caused by such a disease.
   • Slightly sunken brown cankers of variable size and shape affect stem parts primarily below the soil line.1977, The Potato: Major Diseases and Nematodes, International Potato Center, page 46
3. A worm or grub that destroys plant buds or leaves; cankerworm.
   • loathsome canker lives in sweetest bud[…]1609, William Shakespeare, “Sonnet 35”, in Shake-speares Sonnets. […], London: By G[eorge] Eld for T[homas] T[horpe] and are to be sold by William Aspley, →OCLC
4. A corroding or sloughing ulcer; especially a spreading gangrenous ulcer or collection of ulcers in or about the mouth.

   Synonyms:

   water canker, canker of the mouth, noma

5. Anything which corrodes, corrupts, or destroys.
   • the canker of destitution and violence.
6. A kind of wild rose; the dog rose.
   • To put down Richard, that ſweet louely Roſe,
     And plant this thorne, this canker Bullingbrooke?c. 1597 (date written), [William Shakespeare], The History of Henrie the Fourth; […], quarto edition, London: […] P[eter] S[hort] for Andrew Wise, […], published 1598, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iii]...

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