White Plague Definition & Meaning

American

British

Etymology

Examples

white plague American

noun

1. tuberculosis, especially pulmonary tuberculosis.

white plague British

noun

1. informal tuberculosis of the lungs

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of white plague

An Americanism dating back to 1865–70

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Tuberculosis was called “the captain of the men of death” and “the white plague,” for how it left its victims pale and listless.

From Los Angeles Times

The colonies are being killed by a disease of unknown origin — sometimes called white plague or white blotch — first identified off Virginia Key in 2014.

From Los Angeles Times

Why must all other species give way to the white plague?

From The Guardian

By the 1950s, tuberculosis was being treated effectively with antibiotics, and many of the palatial compounds previously devoted to the white plague had shuttered.

From New York Times

Called white plague, white blotch and other names, the disease has infected more than 20 South Florida coral species from the Middle Keys through Palm Beach County.

From Seattle Times

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.