Malign

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Maligned p. pr. & vb. n. Maligning. ] [ Cf. L. malignare. See Malign, a. ] To treat with malice; to show hatred toward; to abuse; to wrong; to injure. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

The people practice what mischiefs and villainies they will against private men, whom they malign by stealing their goods, or murdering them. Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To speak great evil of; to traduce; to defame; to slander; to vilify; to asperse. [ 1913 Webster ]

To be envied and shot at; to be maligned standing, and to be despised falling. South. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. malignus, for maligenus, i. e., of a bad kind or nature; malus bad + the root of genus birth, race, kind: cf. F. malin, masc., maligne, fem. See Malice, Gender, and cf. Benign, Malignant. ] 1. Having an evil disposition toward others; harboring violent enmity; malevolent; malicious; spiteful; -- opposed to benign. [ 1913 Webster ]

Witchcraft may be by operation of malign spirits. Bacon. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Unfavorable; unpropitious; pernicious; tending to injure; as, a malign aspect of planets. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Malignant; as, a malign ulcer. [ R. ] Bacon. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ } n. [ See Malignant. ] 1. The state or quality of being malignant; extreme malevolence; bitter enmity; malice; disposition toward evil; intense ill will; as, malignancy of heart. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Unfavorableness; evil nature. [ 1913 Webster ]

The malignancy of my fate might perhaps distemner yours. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Med.) Virulence; tendency to a fatal issue; as, the malignancy of an ulcer or of a fever. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. Hence: (Med.) A cancerous tumor that is spreading beyond the point of origin.
Syn. -- malignant tumor, malignant neoplasm, metastatic tumor. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

5. The state of being a malignant. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. A man of extreme enmity or evil intentions. Hooker. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Eng. Hist.) One of the adherents of Charles I. or Charles II.; -- so called by the opposite party. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. malignans, -antis, p. pr. of malignare, malignari, to do or make maliciously. See Malign, and cf. Benignant. ] 1. Disposed to do harm, inflict suffering, or cause distress; actuated by extreme malevolence or enmity; virulently inimical; bent on evil; malicious. [ 1913 Webster ]

A malignant and a turbaned Turk. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Characterized or caused by evil intentions; pernicious. “Malignant care.” Macaulay. [ 1913 Webster ]

Some malignant power upon my life. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

Something deleterious and malignant as his touch. Hawthorne. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Med.) Tending to produce death; threatening a fatal issue; virulent; as, malignant diphtheria. [ 1913 Webster ]

Malignant pustule (Med.), a very contagious disease produced by infection of subcutaneous tissues with the bacterium Bacillus anthracis. It is transmitted to man from animals and is characterized by the formation, at the point of reception of the infection, of a vesicle or pustule which first enlarges and then breaks down into an unhealthy ulcer. It is marked by profound exhaustion and often fatal. The disease in animals is called charbon; in man it is called cutaneous anthrax, and formerly was sometimes called simply anthrax. [ 1913 Webster +PJC ]

n. (Med.) A chronic progressive anemia of older adults, thought to result from a lack of intrinsic factor (a substance secreted by the stomach that is responsible for the absorption of vitamin B-12); also called pernicious anemia. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

adv. In a malignant manner. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Med.), Any of several malignant neoplasms (usually of the skin) consisting of melanocytes; called also melanoma. It is classed as a type of skin cancer. [ WordNet 1.5 ]