n. [ OE. canker, cancre, AS. cancer (akin to D. kanker, OHG chanchar.), fr. L. cancer a cancer; or if a native word, cf. Gr. &unr_; excrescence on tree, &unr_; gangrene. Cf. also OF. cancre, F. chancere, fr. L. cancer. See cancer, and cf. Chancre. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. A corroding or sloughing ulcer; esp. a spreading gangrenous ulcer or collection of ulcers in or about the mouth; -- called also water canker, canker of the mouth, and noma. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Anything which corrodes, corrupts, or destroy. [ 1913 Webster ]

The cankers of envy and faction. Temple. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Hort.) A disease incident to trees, causing the bark to rot and fall off. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. (Far.) An obstinate and often incurable disease of a horse's foot, characterized by separation of the horny portion and the development of fungoid growths; -- usually resulting from neglected thrush. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. A kind of wild, worthless rose; the dog-rose. [ 1913 Webster ]

To put down Richard, that sweet lovely rose.
And plant this thorm, this canker, Bolingbroke. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

Black canker. See under Black. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Cankered p. pr. & vb. n. Cankering. ] 1. To affect as a canker; to eat away; to corrode; to consume. [ 1913 Webster ]

No lapse of moons can canker Love. Tennyson. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To infect or pollute; to corrupt. Addison. [ 1913 Webster ]

A tithe purloined cankers the whole estate. Herbert. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. 1. To waste away, grow rusty, or be oxidized, as a mineral. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Silvering will sully and canker more than gliding. Bacom. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To be or become diseased, or as if diseased, with canker; to grow corrupt; to become venomous. [ 1913 Webster ]

Deceit and cankered malice. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

As with age his body uglier grows,
So his mind cankers. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Eaten out by canker, or as by canker. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

The bloom or blossom of the wild rose or dog-rose. [ 1913 Webster ]

That which blasts a blossom as a canker does. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

O me! you juggler! you canker blossom!
You thief of Love! Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. 1. Affected with canker; as, a cankered mouth. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Affected mentally or morally as with canker; sore, envenomed; malignant; fretful; ill-natured. “A cankered grandam's will.” Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. Fretfully; spitefully. [ 1913 Webster ]

A fly that preys on fruit. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Affecting like a canker. “Canrerous shackles.” Thomson. [ 1913 Webster ]

Misdeem it not a cankerous change. Wordsworth. [ 1913 Webster ]

(Med.) A form of scarlet fever characterized by ulcerated or putrid sore throat. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Zool.) The larva of two species of geometrid moths which are very injurious to fruit and shade trees by eating, and often entirely destroying, the foliage. Other similar larvæ are also called cankerworms. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ The autumnal species (Anisopteryx pometaria) becomes adult late in autumn (after frosts) and in winter. The spring species (Anisopteryx vernata) remains in the ground through the winter, and matures in early spring. Both have winged males and wingless females. The larvæ are similar in appearance and habits, and belong to the family of measuring worms or spanworms. These larvæ hatch from the eggs when the leaves begin to expand in spring. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. 1. Like a canker; full of canker. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Surly; sore; malignant. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To canker. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

(Med.) See Canker, n., 1. [ 1913 Webster ]