murrain

• Egyptian cattle suffered a "murrain" -- with no apparent cause other than a divine curse. —  Kevin Smith
• If a storm arose and blew down his barn, it was witchcraft; if his cattle died of a murrain--if disease fastened upon his limbs, or death entered suddenly and snatched a beloved face from his hearth--they were not visitations of Providence, but the works of some neighbouring hag, whose wretchedness or insanity caused the ignorant to raise their finger and point at her as a witch. —  Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds
• Fortunately, however, true murrain is comparatively rare in this great stock-raising country The entire system seems to partake of the disease. —  Cattle and Their Diseases Embracing Their History and Breeds, Crossing and Breeding, And Feeding and Management; With the Diseases to which They are Subject, And The Remedies Best Adapted to their Cure
• [113] Upon Michaelmas day, having made themselves masters of the boats in Loch Lomond, seventy of the Macgregors possessed themselves of Inch-murrain, a large island on the lake. —  Memoirs of the Jacobites of 1715 and 1745 Volume II.
• The rumour sprang up that Evangelicalism had invaded Milby parish--a murrain or blight all the more terrible, because its nature was but dimly conjectured. —  Scenes of Clerical Life

Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Used in the Same Context