infest. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000.

The American Heritage^® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000.

infest

SYLLABICATION:	in·fest
PRONUNCIATION:	n-fst
TRANSITIVE VERB:	Inflected forms: in·fest·ed, in·fest·ing, in·fests 1. To inhabit or overrun in numbers or quantities large enough to be harmful, threatening, or obnoxious: rats infesting the sewers; streets that were infested with drugs. 2. To live as a parasite in or on: livestock that were infested with tapeworms.
ETYMOLOGY:	Middle English infesten, to distress, from Old French infester, from Latin nfestre, from nfestus, hostile. See g^whedh- in Appendix I.
OTHER FORMS:	infes·tation —NOUN in·fester —NOUN


The American Heritage^® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by the Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.