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 ]