1.
[syn: cutaneous anthrax, malignant pustule]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
malignant \ma*lig"nant\, a. [L. malignans, -antis, p. pr. of
malignare, malignari, to do or make maliciously. See
Malign, and cf. Benignant.]
1. Disposed to do harm, inflict suffering, or cause distress;
actuated by extreme malevolence or enmity; virulently
inimical; bent on evil; malicious.
[1913 Webster]
A malignant and a turbaned Turk. --Shak.
[1913 Webster]
2. Characterized or caused by evil intentions; pernicious.
"Malignant care." --Macaulay.
[1913 Webster]
Some malignant power upon my life. --Shak.
[1913 Webster]
Something deleterious and malignant as his touch.
--Hawthorne.
[1913 Webster]
3. (Med.) Tending to produce death; threatening a fatal
issue; virulent; as, malignant diphtheria.
[1913 Webster]
Malignant pustule (Med.), a very contagious disease
produced by infection of subcutaneous tissues with the
bacterium Bacillus anthracis. It is transmitted to man
from animals and is characterized by the formation, at the
point of reception of the infection, of a vesicle or
pustule which first enlarges and then breaks down into an
unhealthy ulcer. It is marked by profound exhaustion and
often fatal. The disease in animals is called charbon;
in man it is called cutaneous anthrax, and formerly was
sometimes called simply anthrax.
[1913 Webster +PJC]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Pustule \Pus"tule\ (?; 135), n. [L. pustula, and pusula: cf. F.
pustule.] (Med.)
A vesicle or an elevation of the cuticle with an inflamed
base, containing pus.
[1913 Webster]
Malignant pustule. See under Malignant.
[1913 Webster]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
malignant pustule
n 1: a form of anthrax infection that begins as papule that
becomes a vesicle and breaks with a discharge of toxins;
symptoms of septicemia are severe with vomiting and high
fever and profuse sweating; the infection is often fatal
[syn: cutaneous anthrax, malignant pustule]