- any of various diseases characterized by skin eruptions, as smallpox or chickenpox
- syphilis: usually with the
Origin of poxfor pocks from Middle English pokkes, plural of pokke: see pock
- A disease such as chickenpox or smallpox, characterized by purulent skin eruptions that may leave pockmarks.
- Misfortune or calamity.
Origin of poxAlteration of pocks from Middle English pl. of pocke, pokke ; see pock .
(third-person singular simple present poxes, present participle poxing, simple past and past participle poxed)
From Middle English pokkes, plural of the ancestor of pock (which see).