(1):
(n.) That which smites, wounds, or troubles; a blow; a calamity; any afflictive evil or torment; a great trail or vexation.
(2):
(n.) An acute malignant contagious fever, that often prevails in Egypt, Syria, and Turkey, and has at times visited the large cities of Europe with frightful mortality; hence, any pestilence; as, the great London plague.
(3):
(v. t.) Fig.: To vex; to tease; to harass.
(4):
(v. t.) To infest or afflict with disease, calamity, or natural evil of any kind.