Blackleg

Quick meaning: Blackleg is a noun meaning (uncountable) A disease of potato crops caused by pectolytic bacteria, characterized by blackening and decay of the lower stem portion.

Meaning

(uncountable) A disease of potato crops caused by pectolytic bacteria, characterized by blackening and decay of the lower stem portion.

More Meanings

1. (uncountable) A disease of brassicas caused by the fungus Leptosphaeria maculans
2. (countable) A person who cheats in a game; a cheater, especially a dishonest bookmaker.
3. (countable) A person who takes the place of striking workers.
4. To continue working whilst fellow workers strike.
5. (uncountable, agriculture, veterinary medicine) A fatal cattle disease caused by the soil-borne bacterium Clostridium chauvoei; symptomatic anthrax.

Example Sentences

Why was I there, munitioning, blacklegging, slaving as though my bread depended on it?

They have no regard for respectability like yours — nothing between a baron and a blackleg.

[H]ere, then, was a community of good taste and kind feeling, no sharpers, no black-legs, no wolves in sheep's clothing.

It's in the evening after dark when the blackleg miner creeps to work. With his moleskin pants and his dirty shirt, there goes the blackleg miner.

Word Forms

• blacklegs
• blacklegging
• blacklegged

Synonyms for blackleg

Depending on context, synonyms include blacklegger, scab, scalie, strikebreaker, rat.

Related Words

Related dictionary entries include scab, rat, strikebreaker, quarter-ill, charbon, anthrax.

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