pestiduct

English

Etymology

From Latin pestis (“pest”) + ductus (“a leading”), from ducere (“to lead”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpɛstidʌkt/

Noun

pestiduct (plural pestiducts)

1. (obsolete) That which conveys contagion or infection.
   • 1624, John Donne, Deuotions upon Emergent Occasions, and Seuerall Steps in My Sicknes: […], London: Printed by A[ugustine] M[atthews] for Thomas Iones, →OCLC; republished as Geoffrey Keynes, edited by John Sparrow, Devotions upon Emergent Occasions: […], Cambridge: At the University Press, 1923, →OCLC:

     It is an excuse to them that are great, and pretend, and yet are loath to come; it is an inhibition to those who would truly come, because they may be made instruments, and pestiducts, to the infection of others, by their coming.

References

“pestiduct”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.