Black Death

noun

the epidemic form of bubonic plague experienced during the Middle Ages when it killed nearly half the people of western Europe

• Syn: ↑Black Plague

• Hypernyms: ↑bubonic plague, ↑pestis bubonica, ↑glandular plague

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noun

Usage: sometimes capitalized B&D

: the form of plague that was epidemic in Asia and Europe in the 14th century and was marked by hemorrhages into the skin forming large dark patches

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a form of bubonic plague that spread over Europe in the 14th century and killed an estimated quarter of the population.

[1815-25]

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black death noun

(with the and usu with caps) a deadly epidemic of bubonic plague that swept over Asia and Europe, reaching England in 1348

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Main Entry: ↑black

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Black Death,

the bubonic plague that spread through Europe beginning in the 1300's and destroyed one-fourth of its population.

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the great epidemic of bubonic plague that killed a large part of the population of Europe in the mid 14th century. It originated in central Asia and China and spread rapidly through Europe, carried by the fleas of black rats, reaching England in 1348 and killing between one third and one half of the population in a matter of months

Origin:

a modern term (compare with earlier the (great) pestilence, great death, the plague), said to have been introduced into English history by Mrs. Markham (pseudonym of Mrs. Penrose) in 1823, and into medical literature by a translation of German der Schwarze Tod (1833). The epithet Black is of uncertain origin; its equivalent was first found in Swedish and Danish chroniclers

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noun

the black death (or the Black Death)

: a deadly disease (called bubonic plague) that spread through Asia and Europe in the 14th century

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the ˌBlack ˈDeath noun singular

the name used for the very serious infectious disease, (called ↑bubonic plague), which killed millions of people in Europe and Asia in the 14th century

 

Word Origin:

[Black Death] a modern term (compare with earlier the (great) pestilence, great death, the plague), said to have been introduced into English history by Mrs Markham (pseudonym of Mrs Penrose) in 1823, and into medical literature by a translation of German der Schwarze Tod (1833).  

Culture:

The Black Death spread throughout Europe in 1348–51. It was spread by fleas carried by rats. People with the disease coughed up blood and got large painful black spots on their bodies, and usually died. It is thought that the Black Death killed about one third of the population of Europe.

See also ↑Great Plague

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Black death

see death n.