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blackleg Definition

black·leg (-leg′)

noun

  1. an acute, usually fatal, infectious disease of young cattle and sheep, caused by a bacterium (esp. Clostridium chauvoei) and characterized by swelling and blackening of infected muscle tissue
  2. a disease of beets and related plants caused by a fungus (Phoma betae)
  3. a disease of potatoes caused by a bacterium (Erwinia atroseptica)
  4. Informal a gambler who cheats
  5. Brit. a strikebreaker
blackleg Usage Examples

Converse of object

  • stop: We had to carry through a mass picket there in order to stop some blacklegs.

Modifies a noun

  • labor: Although there was some blackleg labor, the strike seemed solid, especially in the North East.
  • disease: This may have important ramifications for our understanding of the blackleg disease cycle.

Noun used with modifier

  • potato: Dr. Jennie L Brierley, from the Scottish Crop Research Institute, whose interests include the epidemiology of potato blackleg.