Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A painful localized bacterial infection of the skin and subcutaneous tissue that usually has several openings through which pus is discharged.
- n. A deep-red garnet, unfaceted and convex.
- n. Obsolete A red precious stone.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A beautiful gem of a deep-red color, inclining to scarlet, found chiefly in the East Indies. When held up to the sun it loses its deep tinge, and becomes of the color of a burning coal. It was formerly believed to be capable of shining in darkness. The carbuncle of the ancients in believed to have been a garnet, some varieties of which still go by that name, though the name included also the ruby and the spinel.
- n. In pathology, a circumscribed inflammation of the subcutaneous connective tissue, resulting in suppuration and sloughing, and having a tendency to extend itself, undermining the skin. It is somewhat similar to a boil, but more serious in its effects.
- n. In her.: A charge or bearing generally consisting of 8 radiating staffs or scepters, 4 of which are vertical and horizontal and 4 diagonal or saltierwise, and supposed to represent the precious stone carbuncle. Also called escarbuncle.
- n. The tincture red, when describing a nobleman's escutcheon according to the system of blazoning by precious stones. See blazon, n., 2.
- n. A whelk or “toddy-blossom” on a drunkard's face.
Wiktionary
- n. archaic A deep-red or fiery colored garnet or other dark red precious stone, especially when cut cabochon.
- n. An abscess larger than a boil, usually with one or more openings draining pus onto the skin. It is usually caused by bacterial infection.
- n. heraldry A charge or bearing supposed to represent the precious stone, with eight sceptres or staves radiating from a common centre; an escarbuncle.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. (Min.) A beautiful gem of a deep red color (with a mixture of scarlet) called by the Greeks
anthrax ; found in the East Indies. When held up to the sun, it loses its deep tinge, and becomes of the color of burning coal. The name belongs for the most part to ruby sapphire, though it has been also given to red spinel and garnet. - n. (Med.) A very painful acute local inflammation of the subcutaneous tissue, esp. of the trunk or back of the neck, characterized by brawny hardness of the affected parts, sloughing of the skin and deeper tissues, and marked constitutional depression. It differs from a boil in size, tendency to spread, and the absence of a central core, and is frequently fatal. It is also called
anthrax . - n. (Her.) A charge or bearing supposed to represent the precious stone. It has eight scepters or staves radiating from a common center. Called also
escarbuncle .
WordNet 3.0
- n. deep-red cabochon garnet cut without facets
- n. an infection larger than a boil and with several openings for discharge of pus
Etymologies
- Middle English, from Old French, from Latin carbunculus, small glowing ember, carbuncle, diminutive of carbō, carbōn-, coal; see ker-3 in Indo-European roots. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“I was reminded of the word carbuncle and its dual meanings today while writing something, and remembered this blog, so I thought I'd come over and say hi.”
“Of stones the precious stone called carbuncle is least amenable to fire.”
“The common employment of the designation carbuncle for a precious stone and also for a boil was usual from ancient times.”
“The negroes told us of a strange beast, which our interpreter called a carbuncle, which is said to be often seen, but only in the night.”
A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels — Volume 08
“A carbuncle is a large boil or abscess – i guess what he called a boil would be what we would call a small boil.”
Banting’s Letter on Corpulence | The Blog of Michael R. Eades, M.D.
“The dictionary says a carbuncle is a kind of jewel.”
“This also reminds us of the so-called carbuncle flies, the lancet of whose mouth parts, contaminated with the sanies of corpses, produces such terrible accidents.”
The Life of the fly; with which are interspersed some chapters of autobiography
“I had scarcely settled down comfortably in my rooms, the northerly aspect of which exposed them to frequent gusts of wind (from which I had practically no protection in the form of heating appliances), and had barely got over the demoralising effect of dysentery, when I fell a victim to a specific Venetian complaint, namely a carbuncle on my leg, as the result of the extreme change of climate and of air.”
“Sometimes he gives us a fragment of historical romance, as in the story of the stern old regicide who suddenly appears from the woods to head the colonists of Massachusetts in a critical emergency; then he tries his hand at a bit of allegory, and describes the search for the mythical carbuncle which blazes by its inherent splendour on the face of a mysterious cliff in the depths of the untrodden wilderness, and lures old and young, the worldly and the romantic, to waste their lives in the vain effort to discover it -- for the carbuncle is the ideal which mocks our pursuit, and may be our curse or our blessing.”
“You see, "carbuncle" has collected a pair of the most mismatched definitions ever.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘carbuncle’.
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set phasers to...
you name the setting
I've tuned mine to be gentler and kinder
following suit is not mandatory but would be appreciatedcoddle, confuse, flummox, tap, furrow, instigate, invigorate, punnify, logical, must... act... be..., bowdlerise, laughing gas and 435 more...
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Interesting words
A list of words that are odd or words that I have looked up.
concupiscence, brize, scree, scoria, forestaff, spanaemia, valetudinarianism, distasture, pyrethrum, laudanum, gentian, bicameral and 11250 more...
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phrontistery - c
from phrontistery.info
caballine, cabas, cable, caboched, cabochon, caboose, cabotage, cabré, cabrie, cabriole, cabriolet, cacaesthesia and 1298 more...
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Words build meanings from origins( et...
These come from gamma meditation ,I think.
discursive, exogenous, machinations, purportedly, sumptuous, congruity, cantankerous, incongruous, festoon, hessian, ratiocinative, stratigraphic and 2057 more...
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stuff i like to say
transpire, slipperiness, tobogganing, carbuncle, valetudinarianism, anschauung, espadrille, dragoman, tessellated, eyeballs, earlobe, graith and 3 more...
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amox's list
macho, miasma, isle of langerhans, lipid, fractious, insipid, stentorian, slurpy, henbane, hag fish, hex sign, ranunculus and 9 more...
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Car- Trouble
career, careen, carom, carnage, cartwheeling, carter, caribou, carabiner, caracara, caracole, carafe, carageenan and 29 more...
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Uncle! Uncle!
Uncles, words or phrases with the letters u-n-c-l-e (in that order), and anything avuncular.
uncle, avuncular, Uncle Sam, The Man From U.N...., peduncle, avunculus, say uncle, avunculate, avunculism, patruus, avunculocal, nuncle and 22 more...
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Ugliest Sounding Words
List words that sound ugly, regardless of meaning
kumquat, milk, meal, jizz, bubonic, fester, goulash, sasquatch, carbuncle, sieve, onomatopoeia, burlesque and 29 more...
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jeffreytwhitney's list
abecedarian, assonance, prolix, avuncular, baleful, borborygmus, accismus, atavism, catachresis, coruscant, callipygian, carbuncle and 117 more...
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Lillyjames's Words
uncategorized words that I enjoy
replete, unabashed, dauntless, ubiquitous, fanged, blush, flush, murmur, mercurial, dishevelled, decrepit, raven and 146 more...
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ashton's Words
genocide, boingy, umwelt, zeitgeist, fungible, vorpal, spawn, discordian, fnord, surreptitious, xyzzy, corruption and 122 more...
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List of Heraldry Terms
Words and phrases used in blazoning heraldic devices, along with names and other terms associated with the art and science.
Other similar lists can be found on Wordnik, especially that...seiant, duciper, bourdon, pouch, scrip, staff, ananas, besant d'argent, roundle, roundel, argent, allocamelus and 743 more...
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dark and bright words of shine and fi...
scotophil, scotoma, scotia, shed, shadow, shade, scone, whiting, edelweiss, light, lightning, lucina and 349 more...
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madmelanie's Words
monkey, folderol, snark, snarky, flibbertigibbet, faith, asshat, pirouette, avuncular, exegesis, memento mori, verisimilitude and 379 more...
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Faintheart's Words
onomatopoeia, no, terrafactive, word, faint, heart, joy, quixotic, karla, half, amp, tardis and 181 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for carbuncle.

madmouth His shield was gold, all shining red,
And on it showed a great boar`s head
And a carbuncle as well;
And there he swore, by ale and bread,
The giant now should soon be dead,
No matter what befell.
-Chaucer, "Canterbury Tales" (Tale of Sir Thopas) Apr 13, 2009
slumry "We sailed for America, and there made certain preparations. This took but little time. Two members of my family elected to go with me. Also a carbuncle. The dictionary says a carbuncle is a kind of jewel. Humor is out of place in a dictionary."
Mark Twain, Following the Equator, Chapter 1, page 1 Aug 8, 2007
slumry A funny word that has such dissonant meanings. Jul 12, 2007