[ad. L. vīrulentia: see next and -ENCE. So OF. and F. virulence.]
1. Extreme acrimony or bitterness of temper or speech; violent malignity or rancor.
1663. Jer. Taylor, Fun. Serm. Bramhall, Wks. 1831, IV. vii. 75. It was also such honor, that it is greater than the virulence of tongues, which his worthiness and their envy had armed against him.
1696. Tate & Brady, Ps. cxl. 3. Their sharpen’d Tongue the Serpent’s sting In Virulence exceeds.
1728. Young, Love Fame, VI. 150. Our virulence is thrown On others’ fame, thro’ fondness for our own.
1748. Richardson, Clarissa (1811), I. iv. 28. My sister, who had treated Mr. Lovelace with virulence, came into me and insulted me as fast as I recovered.
1796. Bp. Watson, Apol. Bible, 322. I have been frequently shocked at the virulence of your zeal.
1838. Dickens, Nickleby, xxi. The ill will of Miss Knag had lost nothing of its virulence.
1867. Smiles, Huguenots Eng., xi. (1880), 194. The persecution … was carried on with increased virulence, until resistance almost disappeared.
b. An instance of this.
a. 1774. Tucker, Lt. Nat. (1834), II. 295. The leaders, however they may sometimes encourage these virulences to serve a turn, do not enter into the same sentiments themselves.
2. The property or quality of being physically virulent or full of virus; extreme poisonousness or venomousness; malignity or violence (of disease).
1748. Anson’s Voy., I. x. 106. A general dejection prevailed amongst us, which added much to the virulence of the disease.
1789. W. Buchan, Dom. Med. (1790), 519. I have frequently known the disease return with all its virulence after a course of goat-whey.
1815. J. Smith, Panorama Sci. & Art, II. 48. The wind is salubrious, stopping infection, and removing the virulence of distemper.
1834. Mrs. Somerville, Connex. Phys. Sci., xxvii. 283. Venomous snakes … decrease … in the virulence of their poison with decrease of temperature.
1878. H. M. Stanley, Dark Cont., II. xii. 361. The itch disease was rabid;… about a dozen of the men were fearful objects of its virulence.
attrib. 1896. Allbutt’s Syst. Med., I. 721. Whether … the virulence test is satisfactory and exclusive is a doubtful matter.
