Definition of "infest" in English

verb

1. (transitive) To inhabit a place in unpleasantly large numbers; to plague, harass.

   • Insects are infesting my basement!

2. (pathology, of a parasite) To invade a host plant or animal.

adjective

1. (obsolete) Mischievous; hurtful; harassing.

noun

1. (obsolete) Hostility.

   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, Book II, Canto Eleven, Stanza 32, Hackett, 2006, p. 191, Like as a fire, the which in hollow cave Hath long bene underkept, and down supprest, With murmurous disdayne doth inly rave, And grudge, in so streight prison to be prest, At last breakes forth with furious infest, And strives to mount unto his native seat […]