CANKER

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does canker mean? 

• CANKER (noun)
  The noun CANKER has 3 senses:

1. a fungal disease of woody plants that causes localized damage to the bark

2. an ulceration (especially of the lips or lining of the mouth)

3. a pernicious and malign influence that is hard to get rid of

  Familiarity information: CANKER used as a noun is uncommon.

• CANKER (verb)
  The verb CANKER has 2 senses:

1. become infected with a canker

2. infect with a canker

  Familiarity information: CANKER used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• CANKER (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A fungal disease of woody plants that causes localized damage to the bark

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Hypernyms ("canker" is a kind of...):

plant disease (a disease that affects plants)

Sense 2

Meaning:

An ulceration (especially of the lips or lining of the mouth)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Synonyms:

canker; canker sore

Hypernyms ("canker" is a kind of...):

ulcer; ulceration (a circumscribed inflammatory and often suppurating lesion on the skin or an internal mucous surface resulting in necrosis of tissue)

Derivation:

canker (infect with a canker)

canker (become infected with a canker)

cankerous (having an ulcer or canker)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A pernicious and malign influence that is hard to get rid of

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Synonyms:

canker; pestilence

Context example:

according to him, I was the canker in their midst

Hypernyms ("canker" is a kind of...):

influence (a cognitive factor that tends to have an effect on what you do)

• CANKER (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they canker    ... he / she / it cankers   
Past simple: cankered   
Past participle: cankered   
-ing form: cankering   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Become infected with a canker

Classified under:

Verbs of grooming, dressing and bodily care

Hypernyms (to "canker" is one way to...):

come down; sicken (get sick)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

Derivation:

canker (an ulceration (especially of the lips or lining of the mouth))

Sense 2

Meaning:

Infect with a canker

Classified under:

Verbs of grooming, dressing and bodily care

Hypernyms (to "canker" is one way to...):

infect (communicate a disease to)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s something

Derivation:

canker (an ulceration (especially of the lips or lining of the mouth))

 Context examples 

Canker sores are small, round sores on the inside of the cheek, under the tongue, or in the back of the throat.

(Canker Sores, NIH)

Of late it had been easy enough for me to look sad: a cankering evil sat at my heart and drained my happiness at its source—the evil of suspense.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

“Without more directly referring to any latent ability that may possibly exist on my part, of wielding the thunderbolt, or directing the devouring and avenging flame in any quarter, I may be permitted to observe, in passing, that my brightest visions are for ever dispelled—that my peace is shattered and my power of enjoyment destroyed—that my heart is no longer in the right place—and that I no more walk erect before my fellow man. The canker is in the flower. The cup is bitter to the brim. The worm is at his work, and will soon dispose of his victim. The sooner the better. But I will not digress. “Placed in a mental position of peculiar painfulness, beyond the assuaging reach even of Mrs. Micawber's influence, though exercised in the tripartite character of woman, wife, and mother, it is my intention to fly from myself for a short period, and devote a respite of eight-and-forty hours to revisiting some metropolitan scenes of past enjoyment. Among other havens of domestic tranquillity and peace of mind, my feet will naturally tend towards the King's Bench Prison. In stating that I shall be (D. V.) on the outside of the south wall of that place of incarceration on civil process, the day after tomorrow, at seven in the evening, precisely, my object in this epistolary communication is accomplished.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Avoiding hot, spicy food while you have a canker sore also helps.

(Canker Sores, NIH)

And now it is deluged with a nectarous flood—the young germs swamped—delicious poison cankering them: now I see myself stretched on an ottoman in the drawing-room at Vale Hall at my bride Rosamond Oliver's feet: she is talking to me with her sweet voice—gazing down on me with those eyes your skilful hand has copied so well—smiling at me with these coral lips.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

Canker sores aren't contagious.

(Canker Sores, NIH)

This is legitimate, et j'y tiens, as Adele would say; and it is by virtue of this superiority, and this alone, that I desire you to have the goodness to talk to me a little now, and divert my thoughts, which are galled with dwelling on one point—cankering as a rusty nail.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)