murrain
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈmʌɹ(ɪ)n/
ipa: /-ɹeɪn/
ipa: /ˈmʌɹən/
Forms: form: murrains
form: murrein
form: murrion
Etymology: The noun is derived from Late Middle English morein, morine, moreyn (“(widespread) death; widespread sickness, plague; fatal disease; carnage; carrion”), from Anglo-Norman morine, mourine, moreyn (“death; widespread sickness, plague; carrion; cattle disease”), Middle French morine, and Old French morine, mourine, murine (“widespread sickness, plague; animal which has died from a disease”), from Late Latin morina (“plague”), probably from Latin morior (“to die; to decay, wither”).
The adjective and adverb are derived from the noun.
Cognates
* Italian morìa (“plague”)
* Latin morticīnus (“that has died naturally, dead; (relational) carrion”) (Medieval Latin morticinium)
* Occitan moria (“death; plague”)
* Old French morie (“death”) mourie (“flesh of animals that have died of disease”) (Middle French murie)
* Portuguese morrinha (“cattle plague”)
* Spanish morriña (“cattle plague”)
Senses: examples: text: How a murryen came this chaunce, (ſay Tib) vnto our dame?
ref: c. 1553 (date written), “S.” [pseudonym; attributed to William Stevenson], […] Gammer Gurtons Nedle: […], London: […] Thomas Colwell, published 1575, →OCLC, Act I, scene iii, signature A.iii., verso:
text: For heuen it ſelfe ſhall their ſucceſſe enuy, / And them vvith plagues and murrins peſtilent / Conſume, till all their vvarlike puiſſaunce be ſpent.
ref: 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto III”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 40, page 437:
text: Rafe. […] [T]his ſhooe I durſt be ſworne / Once couered the inſtep of my Jane: / […] / By this old ſhooe I shall find out my wife. / Firke. Ha ha olde ſhoo, that wert new, how a murren came this ague fit of fooliſhnes upon thee?
ref: 1599 (first performance), Thomas Dekker, The Shomakers Holiday. Or The Gentle Craft. […], London: […] Valentine Sims […], published 1600, →OCLC, signature G3, verso:
text: [A] red murrion ath thy Iades trickes.
ref: c. 1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, The Famous Historie of Troylus and Cresseid. […] (First Quarto), London: […] G[eorge] Eld for R[ichard] Bonian and H[enry] Walley, […], published 1609, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i], signature [C4], recto:
text: VVhat the Murrion care I vvho you are, hold off your Fingers, or Ile cut them vvith this Diamond.
ref: 1604 (first performance), Tho[mas] Dekker; Iohn Webster [i.e., John Webster], West-ward Hoe. […], London: […] [William Jaggard], and to be sold by Iohn Hodgets […], published 1607, →OCLC, Act IV, signature F2, verso:
text: [M]any Ievves vvere there executed by occaſion of a murren, procured (as vvas ſuſpected) by Ievviſh exorciſmes intending a plague to the men, and not a murren to the beaſts, if their vvorking had ſorted: but the Ievves ſaid it vvas but a pretence to depriue them of their riches.
ref: 1613, Samuel Purchas, “[Asia.] The Miserable Destruction and Dispersion of the Iewes, from the Time of the Desolation of Their Citie and Temple to this Day.”, in Purchas His Pilgrimage. Or Relations of the World and the Religions Observed in All Ages and Places Discouered, from the Creation vnto this Present. […], London: […] William Stansby for Henrie Fetherstone, […], →OCLC, book II [Of the Hebrew Nation and Religion from the Beginning thereof to Our Time], page 137:
text: But vvhat the murrain have they to do vvith Quality, vvhy don't their Husbands make 'em mind their Shops?
ref: 1705, [John Vanbrugh], The Confederacy. A Comedy. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, Act I, page 2:
text: [A]t last, with a murrain to her, she cast her bewitching eye upon me.
ref: 1711 July 21 (Gregorian calendar), [Richard Steele], “TUESDAY, July 10, 1711”, in The Spectator, number 113; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New Edition, […], volume II, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton & Company, 1853, →OCLC, page 105:
text: Ah—Murrain upon all Rogues and VVhores, I ſay; but I am grovvn ſo cunning novv, the Deel himſelf can't handle me.
ref: a. 1727 (date written), John Vanbrugh, A Journey to London. Being Part of a Comedy Written by the Late Sir John Vanbrugh, Knt. and Printed after His Own Copy: […], London: […] John Watts, […], published 1728, →OCLC, Act I, page 9:
text: Let him take what he gets, an' a murrain to him! he had no business to bring her here to torment us all, after the dear lady we have lost.
ref: 1802, Joanna Baillie, “The Second Marriage: A Comedy. In Five Acts.”, in A Series of Plays: In which It is Attempted to Delineate the Stronger Passions of the Mind. […], volume II, London: […] T[homas] Cadell, Jun. and W[illiam] Davies, […], →OCLC, Act II, scene v, page 406:
text: "A murrain take thee," rejoined the swineherd; "wilt thou talk of such things, while a terrible storm of thunder and lightning is raging within a few miles of us?["]
ref: 1819 December 20 (indicated as 1820), Walter Scott, chapter I, in Ivanhoe; a Romance. […], volume I, Edinburgh: […] Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co. […], →OCLC, page 19:
text: A murrain on thy voice! it is enough to fray every hawk from the perch.
ref: 1825 June 22, [Walter Scott], chapter VII, in Tales of the Crusaders. […], volume II (The Betrothed), Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co., →OCLC, page 187:
text: My own idea that a murrain will shortly break out in the commercial class, and that the cause will subsequently disclose itself in the ready sale of all rejected pictures, has been called an unsound use of analogy; but there are minds that will not hesitate to rob even the neglected painter of his solace.
ref: 1876, George Eliot [pseudonym; Mary Ann Evans], chapter LII, in Daniel Deronda, volume II, Edinburgh; London: William Blackwood and Sons, →OCLC, book III (Maidens Choosing), pages 48–49:
text: A murrain on you, Reverend Apse / I hope you get caught in a vicious moral lapse.
ref: 1930 July 11, Ogden Nash, “Lines to Be Mumbled at Ovington’s”, in The New Yorker, New York, N.Y.: Condé Nast Publications, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 26 May 2022, page 21, column 3:
glosses: Infectious disease; pestilence, plague; (countable) sometimes used in curses such as a murrain on someone: an outbreak of such a disease; a plague.
examples: text: Usura [a personification of usury] is a murrain, usura / blunteth the needle in the maid’s hand / and stoppeth the spinner’s cunning.
ref: 1937, Ezra Pound, “Canto XLV”, in The Fifth Decad of Cantos, London: Faber and Faber, →OCLC; republished in A Selection of Poems, London: Faber and Faber […], November 1940, →OCLC, page 80:
glosses: A widespread affliction, calamity, or destructive influx, especially when seen as divine retribution; a plague.
examples: text: water murrain
text: Il'e ſtrike thee [Earth] vvith a laſting barrenneſſe. / No more ſhall plenty crovvne thy fertill brovves, / Il'e breake thy plovves, thy Oxen murren-ſtrike: […]
ref: 1613, Thomas Heywood, The Silver Age, […], London: […] Nicholas Okes, and are to be sold by Beniamin Lightfoote […], →OCLC, Act III, signature H, verso:
text: [A] Church-mans Juriſdiction is no more but to vvatch over his Flock in ſeaſon, and out of ſeaſon, to deal by ſvveet and efficacious Inſtructions, gentle Admonitions, and ſometimes rounder Reproofs; […] againſt a perſiſting ſtubbornes, or the fear of a reprobate ſenſe, a timely ſeparation from the Flock by that interdictive Sentence, leſt his Converſation unprohibited, or unbranded, might breath a peſtilential murrein into the other Sheepe.
ref: 1642 April, John Milton, An Apology for Smectymnuus; republished in A Complete Collection of the Historical, Political, and Miscellaneous Works of John Milton, […], volume I, Amsterdam [actually London: s.n.], 1698, →OCLC, page 159:
text: The murrain among Bees is very rare: other diſeaſes they are ſubject too, eſpecially to a ſcovvring, by gathering, or feeding on Tithymal, […]
ref: 1657, Samuel Purchas, “Of Bees, Enemies and Sicknesses”, in A Theatre of Politicall Flying-Insects. […], London: […] R. I. for Thomas Parkhurst, […], →OCLC, page 122:
text: The next year vvas calamitous, bringing ſtrange fluxes upon men, and murren upon Cattel.
ref: 1670, John Milton, “The Sixth Book”, in The History of Britain, that Part Especially now Call’d England. […], London: […] J[ohn] M[acock] for James Allestry, […] , →OCLC, page 245:
text: [page 47] [B]ecauſe Murreins among the Larger Cattle, and Rots among the Smaller, are the moſt Fatal of Diſeaſes, and ſvveep them avvay by Herds and Flocks, I ſhall (from Long Experience) ſhovv the neareſt vvay to fore-ſee the approaching Danger, […] [page 48] To prevent therefore this Murrein, Long-ſought; or as ſome call it, Gurget: If you are conſtrained to Paſture your Beaſts, bleed them as ſoon as ever the Leaf begins to fall; peg their Ears and Devv-laps vvith Helebore, or Bears-foot, a Plant ſo called; […]
ref: 1700, C. P. [pseudonym], “Signs of Murrein, Rot, or Such Like Destroying Diseases in Cattle; how to Prevent or Remedy Them”, in The Sheepherd’s New Kalender: or, The Citizen’s & Country Man’s Daily Companion: […], London: […] A. M. for J. Blare, […], →OCLC, pages 47–48:
topics: biology
medicine
natural-sciences
pathology
sciences
veterinary
zoology
glosses: Any of several highly infectious diseases of cattle or other livestock, such as anthrax, babesiosis, or rinderpest; or a particular epizootic thereof; also, an infectious disease affecting other animals, such as poultry.
examples: text: potato murrain
text: [H]e had reason to think that a murrain had fallen over the whole of the potato crops in England, and that, if it extended to Ireland, the most serious consequences must ensue.
ref: 1880, [Benjamin Disraeli], chapter XIV, in Endymion […], volume III, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., →OCLC, pages 141–142:
topics: biology
botany
medicine
natural-sciences
pathology
phytopathology
sciences
glosses: An infectious disease affecting plants.
examples: text: Green salted are those that have been salted and are thoroughly cured. […] In green-salted hides and skins, those weighing […] 14 to 25 pounds, if plump, kip, but if thin and poor are called runners or murrains, and are sold at two thirds the price of good kip; […]
ref: [1877, Edward H[enry] Knight, “Leath′er”, in Knight’s American Mechanical Dictionary. […], volume II, New York, N.Y.: Hurd and Houghton […], →OCLC, page 1275, column 1:
glosses: A poor-quality green-salted animal hide.
examples: text: Moreyn dethe mortalité […] mourine […]
ref: 1530 July 28 (Gregorian calendar), Iohan Palsgraue [i.e., John Palsgrave], “The Table of Substantyues”, in Lesclarcissement de la langue francoyse⸝ […], [London]: […] [Richard Pynson] fynnysshed by Iohan Haukyns, →OCLC, 3rd boke, folio xlix, recto; reprinted Geneva: Slatkine Reprints, October 1972, →OCLC:
glosses: Death, especially from an infectious disease.
examples: text: The fold ſtands empty, in the drovvned fiend, / And crovves are fatted vvith the murrion flocke.
ref: c. 1595–1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, A Midsommer Nights Dreame. […] (First Quarto), London: […] [Richard Bradock] for Thomas Fisher, […], published 1600, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i], signature B4, verso:
text: [I]f our freſh vvits cannot turne the plots / Of ſuch a mouldy murrion on it ſelfe; / Rich cloathes, choyſe fare, and a true friend at a call, / VVith all the pleaſures the night yeelds, forſake vs.
ref: c. 1619 (date written), P[hilip] M[assinger], N[athan] F[ield], The Fatall Dowry: A Tragedy. […], London: […] Iohn Norton, for Francis Constable, […], published 1632, →OCLC, Act III, signature G, recto:
glosses: Rotting flesh, especially of an animal which has died from a disease; carrion.
Derived terms: word: murrained
word: murrainly
word: steppe murrain
word: water murrain