The Only Use of
pestilence
in
Jane Eyre
- That forest-dell, where Lowood lay, was the cradle of fog and fog-bred pestilence; which, quickening with the quickening spring, crept into the Orphan Asylum, breathed typhus through its crowded schoolroom and dormitory, and, ere May arrived, transformed the seminary into an hospital.†
p. 91.5
Definition:
widespread disease (usually severe); or any severely harmful or evil influence that is hard to get rid of