| Canker 1. (n.) A corroding or sloughing ulcer; esp. a spreading gangrenous ulcer or collection of ulcers in or about the mouth; -- called also water canker, canker of the mouth, and noma. 2. (n.) Anything which corrodes, corrupts, or destroy. 3. (n.) A disease incident to trees, causing the bark to rot and fall off. 4. (n.) An obstinate and often incurable disease of a horse's foot, characterized by separation of the horny portion and the development of fungous growths; -- usually resulting from neglected thrush. 5. (n.) A kind of wild, worthless rose; the dog-rose. 6. (v. t.) To affect as a canker; to eat away; to corrode; to consume. 7. (v. t.) To infect or pollute; to corrupt. 8. (v. i.) To waste away, grow rusty, or be oxidized, as a mineral. 9. (v. i.) To be or become diseased, or as if diseased, with canker; to grow corrupt; to become venomous. Thesaurus Entries abscess, adulterate, alloy, aposteme, bed sore, blain, blast, bleb, blight, blister, boil, break up, bubo, bulla, bunion, cancer, canker sore, carbuncle, chancre, chancroid, cheapen, chilblain, coarsen, cold sore, confound, contaminate, corrode, corrupt, crumble, crumble into dust, debase, debauch, decay, decompose, defile, deflower, degenerate, degrade, demoralize, denature, deprave, desecrate, despoil, devalue, disintegrate, distort, dry rot, eat, eat away, eat into, erode, eschar, fall into decay, fall to pieces, felon, fester, festering, fever blister, fistula, fungus, furuncle, furunculus, gangrene, gathering, gnaw, go bad, go to pieces, gumboil, hemorrhoids, infect, kibe, lesion, mildew, misuse, mold, molder, mortify, moth, moth and rust, must, necrose, nibble away, oxidize, papula, papule, paronychia, parulis, pervert, pest, petechia, piles, pimple, pock, poison, pollute, polyp, prostitute, pustule, putrefy, putresce, rankle, ravage, ravish, rising, rot, rust, scab, smut, soft chancre, sore, sphacelate, spoil, stain, stigma, sty, suppurate, suppuration, swelling, taint, tubercle, twist, ulcer, ulcerate, ulceration, violate, vitiate, vulgarize, wale, warp, welt, wheal, whelk, whitlow, worm, wound |