fester
verbEtymology Inherited from Middle English festre, festur, borrowed from Old French festre (cognate with Italian fistola, Occitan fistola, Spanish fístula), from Latin fistula. The verb is derived from the noun, while the “condition of something that festers” noun sense is derived from the verb. Doublet of fistula.
1
To become septic; to become rotten.
- and she for the despyte of her sones dethe wrought by her subtyl craftes that syr Vrre shold neuer be hole but euer his woundes shold one tyme feyster & another tyme blede "and she, for the despite of her son’s death, wrought by her subtle crafts that Sir Urre should never be whole, but ever his wounds should one time fester and another time bleed"1485, Thomas Malory, Le Morte Darthur Book XIX, Chapter x, leaf 394v:
- [W]ounds immedicable / Ranckle, and feſter, and gangrene, / To black mortification.1671, John Milton, “Samson Agonistes, […].”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: […] J[ohn] M[acock] for John Starkey […], →OCLC, page 42, lines 521–523:
2 more examples
- On the day of my inauguration, the director of the Nationalist Party county office ordered the Chungli mayor to stop trash collection. Because I could not command the Chungli sanitation department directly—it is administered at the local level—piles of garbage began to fester on the streets.2014, Lu Hsiu-lien, Ashley Esarey, My Fight for a New Taiwan, University of Washington Press, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, →OL, page 240:
- Here, Melanie once again provides an interesting variation on the formula, serving as a scout and ambassador between worlds. Don't expect anything new from her human counterparts, though, just the usual shooting and running and hiding slowly festering flesh wounds.2017 February 23, Katie Rife, “The Girl With All The Gifts tries to put a fresh spin on overripe zombie clichés”, in The A.V. Club, archived from the original on 01 Mar 2017:
2
Figuratively To worsen, especially due to lack of attention.
- Deal with the problem immediately; do not let it fester.
- All this time hatred, kept down by fear, festered in the hearts of the children of the soil.1855, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter XVII, in The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, volume IV, London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC, page 116:
2 more examples
- But the longer the problems are left to fester, the worse they will become.2024 April 3, Philip Haigh, “Discord over Avanti West Coast is part of a wider problem”, in RAIL, number 1006, page 53:
- Trump’s speech had the fingerprints of Stephen Miller, the White House deputy chief of staff and architect of his draconian immigration policy, all over it. It chimed with an entire discourse of white identity politics festering on the US right.2026 January 21, David Smith, “Trump paints himself as great white hope in racism-drenched Davos speech”, in The Guardian, →ISSN, archived from the original on 05 Mar 2026:
3
To cause to fester or rankle.
- For which I burnt in inward sweltring hate, / And festred rankling malice in my breast, / Till I might belke revenge upon his eyes: […]c. 1599–1600, John Marston, Antonios Reuenge. The Second Part. As it hath beene Sundry Times Acted, by the Children of Paules, London: Printed [by Richard Bradock] for Thomas Fisher, and are to be soulde [by Matthew Lownes] in Saint Dunstans Church-yarde, published 1602, →OCLC, Act I, scene i; republished in J[ames] O[rchard] Halliwell, editor, The Works of John Marston. Reprinted from the Original Editions. With Notes, and some Account of His Life and Writings. … In Three Volumes, volume I, London: John Russell Smith, Soho Square, 1856, →OCLC, page 74
- Derived terms
- festeringly, festerment, festerous, festery, unfestered