contagionist (kontajonist)

[= F. conta gionniste; as contagion + -ist.] One who believes in the contagious character of certain diseases, as cholera, typhus, etc. contagious (kon-ta'jus), a. [= F. contagieux = Sp. Pg. It. contagioso, In the two and twentieth Year of his [Edward III.'s] Reign a contagious Pestilence arose in the East and South Parts of the World, and spread it self all over Christen Baker , Chronicles, p. 131. dom. The disease [empusa] is contagious , because a healthy fly coming in contact with a diseased one, from which the spore-bearing filaments protrude, is pretty sure to carry off a spore or two. It is "infectious" because the spores become scattered about all sorts of matter in the neighbourhood of the slain flies. Huxley, Lay Sermons, p. 372. 2. Containing or generating contagion; poisonous; pestilential: as, contagious air; contagious clothing. Breathe foul, contagious darkne in the air. Shak., 2 Hen. VI., iv. 1. 3. Propagated by influence or incitement; ex citing like feeling or action; spreading or liable to spread from one to another: as, contagious example; a contagious speculation. IMG:content-1145.png:[blocks in formation] Too contagious grows the mirth, the warmth Escaping from so many hearts at once. lever goniometer. See goniometer . contactual (kon-tak'tū-al), a . ( contactu- ), contact, + -al. Cf. tactual .] Perment: as, a contagious epidemic. [Rare.] taining to contact; implying contact. Contagion may be said to be immediate, contactual , or In the morn and liquid dew of youth Contagious blastments are most imminent. Shak., Hamlet, i. 3. or of of flooring; the floor laid. E. Phillips, 1706.