murrain

The noun is derived from Late Middle English morein, morine, moreyn (“(widespread) death; widespread sickness, plague; fatal disease; carnage; carrion”),^[1] 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 morī, the present active infinitive of morior (“to die; to decay, wither”),^[2] ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *mer- (“to die”).

The adjective and adverb are derived from the noun.^[2]

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈmʌɹ(ɪ)n/, /-ɹeɪn/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈmʌɹən/
• Hyphenation: mur‧rain

murrain (countable and uncountable, plural murrains)

1. (archaic, uncountable) Infectious disease; pestilence, plague; (countable) sometimes used in curses such as a murrain on someone: an outbreak of such a disease; a plague.
   • 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:

     How a murryen came this chaunce, (ſay Tib) vnto our dame?

   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto III”, in The Faerie Queene. , London: [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 40, page 437:

     For heuen it ſelfe ſhall their ſucceſſe enuy, / And them vvith plagues and murrins peſtilent / Conſume, till all their vvarlike puiſſaunce be ſpent.

   • 1599 (first performance), Thomas Dekker, The Shomakers Holiday. Or The Gentle Craft. , London: Valentine Sims , published 1600, →OCLC, signature G3, verso:

     Rafe. […] 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?

   • c. 1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, The Famous Historie of Troylus and Cresseid.  (First Quarto), London: G Eld for R Bonian and H Walley, , published 1609, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i], signature , recto:

     red murrion ath thy Iades trickes.

   • 1604 (first performance), Tho 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:

     VVhat the Murrion care I vvho you are, hold off your Fingers, or Ile cut them vvith this Diamond.

   • 1613, Samuel Purchas, “ 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 , page 137:

     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.

   • 1705, [John Vanbrugh], The Confederacy. A Comedy. , London: Jacob Tonson, , →OCLC, Act I, page 2:

     But vvhat the murrain have they to do vvith Quality, vvhy don't their Husbands make 'em mind their Shops?

   • 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 Appleton & Company, 1853, →OCLC, page 105:

     t last, with a murrain to her, she cast her bewitching eye upon me.

     The spelling has been modernized.

   • 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:

     Ah—Murrain upon all Rogues and VVhores, I ſay; but I am grovvn ſo cunning novv, the Deel himſelf can't handle me.

   • 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 Cadell, Jun. and W Davies, , →OCLC, Act II, scene v, page 406:

     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.

   • 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:

     "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?["]

   • 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:

     A murrain on thy voice! it is enough to fray every hawk from the perch.

   • 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:

     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.

   • 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 2022-05-26, page 21, column 3:

     A murrain on you, Reverend Apse / I hope you get caught in a vicious moral lapse.

2. (countable, figurative, archaic) A widespread affliction, calamity, or destructive influx, especially when seen as divine retribution; a plague.
   • 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:

     Usura [a personification of usury] is a murrain, usura / blunteth the needle in the maid’s hand / and stoppeth the spinner’s cunning.

3. (countable, veterinary medicine, chiefly historical) 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.

   water murrain

   • 1613, Thomas Heywood, The Silver Age, , London: Nicholas Okes, and are to be sold by Beniamin Lightfoote , →OCLC, Act III, signature H, verso:

     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: […]

     That is, to afflict oxen with an infectious disease.

   • 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:

     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.

     A figurative use.

   • 1657, Samuel Purchas, “Of Bees, Enemies and Sicknesses”, in A Theatre of Politicall Flying-Insects. , London: R. I. for Thomas Parkhurst, , →OCLC, page 122:

     The murrain among Bees is very rare: other diſeaſes they are ſubject too, eſpecially to a ſcovvring, by gathering, or feeding on Tithymal, […]

   • 1670, John Milton, “The Sixth Book”, in The History of Britain, that Part Especially now Call’d England. , London: J M for James Allestry, , →OCLC, page 245:

     The next year vvas calamitous, bringing ſtrange fluxes upon men, and murren upon Cattel.

   • 1700, C. P. , “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:

     [page 47] 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; […]

4. (countable, by extension, phytopathology) An infectious disease affecting plants.

   potato murrain

   • 1880, [Benjamin Disraeli], chapter XIV, in Endymion , volume III, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., →OCLC, pages 141–142:

     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.

5. (obsolete)
   1. (countable) A poor-quality green-salted animal hide.
      • , volume II, New York, N.Y.: Hurd and Houghton , →OCLC, page 1275, column 1:

        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; […]]

   2. (uncountable) Death, especially from an infectious disease.
      • 1530 July 28 (Gregorian calendar), Iohan Palsgraue [i.e., John Palsgrave], “The Table of Substantyues”, in Lesclarcissement de la langue francoyse⸝ , : [Richard Pynson] fynnysshed by Iohan Haukyns, →OCLC, 3rd boke, folio xlix, recto; reprinted Geneva: Slatkine Reprints, October 1972, →OCLC:

        Moreyn dethe mortalité […] mourine […]

   3. (uncountable) Rotting flesh, especially of an animal which has died from a disease; carrion.
      • c. 1595–1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, A Midsommer Nights Dreame.  (First Quarto), London: for Thomas Fisher, , published 1600, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i], signature B4, verso:

        The fold ſtands empty, in the drovvned fiend, / And crovves are fatted vvith the murrion flocke.

      • c. 1619 (date written), P M, N F, The Fatall Dowry: A Tragedy. , London: Iohn Norton, for Francis Constable, , published 1632, →OCLC, Act III, signature G, recto:

        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.

• murrein (obsolete, 16th c.)
• murrion (obsolete, 16th–17th c.)

• murrained (adjective)
• murrainly (obsolete)
• steppe murrain
• water murrain (obsolete)

murrain (comparative more murrain, superlative most murrain) (figurative, obsolete)

1. Disgusting or offensive, as if having an infectious disease; contemptible, despicable, loathsome, plaguey.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:despicable

   • c. 1553 (date written), “S.” [pseudonym; attributed to William Stevenson], Gammer Gurtons Nedle: , London: Thomas Colwell, published 1575, →OCLC, Act III, scene iv, signature [C.iiii.], verso:

     No, ich know thars not within this land / A muryner Cat than Gyb is, betwixt the tems [Thames] and Tyne, […]

   • 1591, [Ludovico Ariosto], “The XII. Booke”, in Iohn Haringtõ [i.e., John Harington], transl., Orlando Furioso in English Heroical Verse, , London: Richard Field , →OCLC, stanza 34, page 91, column 2:

     hou foule and murren lyer, / I cannot novv forbeare thee any longer, […]

2. Used as an intensifier: to a great extent; extreme, intense.
   • 1728, John Vanbrugh, Colley Cibber, The Provok’d Husband; or, A Journey to London. A Comedy, , London: J Watts, , →OCLC, Act I, page 17:

     But my Lady vvas in ſuch murrain haſte to be here, that ſet out ſhe vvould, thof' I tould her, it vvas Childermas Day.

murrain (comparative more murrain, superlative most murrain)

1. (figurative, obsolete) Used as an intensifier: extremely, very.

   Synonyms: (obsolete) murrainly; see also Thesaurus:extremely, Thesaurus:very

   • c. 1553 (date written), “S.” [pseudonym; attributed to William Stevenson], Gammer Gurtons Nedle: , London: Thomas Colwell, published 1575, →OCLC, Act II, scene iv, signature C, verso:

     It is a murrion crafty drab, and froward to be pleaſed.

   • a. 1664 (date written), Lord Viscount Fawlkland [i.e., Henry Cary, 4th Viscount Falkland], The Mariage Night, London: W G for R Crofts , published 1664, →OCLC, Act III, page 25:

     La there; And that ſame's a murrain vviſe boy, if you mark him; and vvill ſee a thing, I vvarrant you, as ſoon as the vviſeſt of us all, vvere he tvvice as old again.

• murrain on Wikipedia.Wikipedia