Pox

n. [For pocks, O. Eng. pokkes, from A-S. pocc, poc. See POCK. It is properly a plural word, but by usage is singular.] (Med.) Strictly, pustules or eruptions of any kind, but chiefly or wholly restricted to three or four diseases — the small-pox, chicken-pox, the vaccine, and the venereal diseases.

☞ Pox, when used without an epithet, formerly signified what is now called small-pox, and was often employed, in this signification, in imprecations and exclamations. In modern language, when used without a qualifying word, it signifies lues venerea, or syphilis.