Definition of "leprous" in English

adjective

1. Of or relating to one of the diseases known as leprosy.

   • 1748, Philip Luckombe, A Tour Through Ireland, London: T. Lowndes & Son, 1783, Journey the Fourth, p. 324, […] a dissenting minister […] came to this well, over-run with leprous eruptions on the skin, which had rendered his joints so rigid, that he could neither hold his bridle, nor feed himself […]

2. Infected with one of the diseases known as leprosy.

3. Similar to leprosy or its symptoms.

4. Having the appearance of the skin of one infected with leprosy; flaking, peeling, scabby, scurfy.

5. (figuratively, archaic) Immoral, or corrupted or tainted in some manner; also, ostracized, shunned.

6. (alchemy, historical) Of gold or other metals: contaminated with other substances; impure.

7. (botany, archaic) Synonym of leprose (“covered with thin scurfy scales, scaly-looking”).

8. (obsolete) Causing leprosy or a disease resembling it.