murrain

From Anglo-Norman mourine, moreyn, Middle French morine, from Medieval Latin morticinium, ultimately from a form of Latin mori (“to die”).

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈmʌɹɪn/

murrain (countable and uncountable, plural murrains)

1. (archaic) Plague, infectious disease, pestilence.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, III.iii:

     For heauen it selfe shall their successe enuy, / And them with plagues and murrins pestilent / Consume, till all their warlike puissaunce be spent.

2. (now chiefly historical, veterinary medicine) Any of several highly infectious diseases of cattle such as anthrax.