Inherited from Middle English festre, festur, borrowed from Old French festre (cognate with Italian fistola, Occitan fistola, Spanish fístula), from Latin fistula. The verb is derived from the noun, while the “condition of something that festers” noun sense is derived from the verb. Doublet of fistula.
Meanings
(obsolete) A fistula.
A sore or an ulcer of the skin.
He has been away so long and so often, there has been such mismanagement under a long minority, such changes and such misrule, such a hard hand and such a high hand, that the whole place is a fester. 1864 July, “The Rim. Part III.—Conclusion.”, in The Atlantic Monthly. A Magazine of Literature, Art, and Politics, volume XIV, number LXXXI, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor and Fields, 135, Washington Street; London: Trübner and Company, →OCLC, page 68:
The larger the Spider, the warmer the climate or season of the year, and the more susceptible the wounded individual, so much worse will the effects be; and it is no therefore no wonder that people who would have a fester from a simple prick with a needle, should feel more violent effects from the bite of a Spider. 1848, Samuel Maunder, “SPIDERS. (Arachnida.)”, in The Treasury of Natural History; or, A Popular Dictionary of Animated Nature: In which the Zoological Characteristics that Distinguish the Different Classes, Genera, and Species, are Combined with a Variety of Interesting Information Illustrative of the Habits, Instincts, and General Economy of the Animal Kingdom. To which are Added, a Syllabus of Practical Taxidermy, and a Glossarial Appendix. …, London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, Paternoster-Row, →OCLC, page 637, column 1:
While to the fingers and toes, which are frequently the seat of spontaneous festers, &c., irritation is kept up [if a hot poultice is applied], the skin is thickened, and rendered less liable to be permeated by matter; the heat is driven down the soft structures to the very bones and joints, and a portion of them may be lost in consequence. 1861, Benjamin Ridge, “Medical and Self Torture”, in Ourselves, Our Food, and Our Physic, London: Chapman and Hall, 193 Piccadilly, →OCLC, page 68:
The condition of something that festers; a festering; a festerment.
Inherited from Middle English festre, festur, borrowed from Old French festre (cognate with Italian fistola, Occitan fistola, Spanish fístula), from Latin fistula. The verb is derived from the noun, while the “condition of something that festers” noun sense is derived from the verb. Doublet of fistula.
Meanings
(intransitive) To become septic; to become rotten.
On the day of my inauguration, the director of the Nationalist Party county office ordered the Chungli mayor to stop trash collection. Because I could not command the Chungli sanitation department directly—it is administered at the local level—piles of garbage began to fester on the streets. 2014, Lu Hsiu-lien, Ashley Esarey, My Fight for a New Taiwan, University of Washington Press, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, →OL, page 240:
and she for the despyte of her sones dethe wrought by her subtyl craftes that syr Vrre shold neuer be hole but euer his woundes shold one tyme feyster & another tyme blede
"and she, for the despite of her son’s death, wrought by her subtle crafts that Sir Urre should never be whole, but ever his wounds should one time fester and another time bleed" 1485, Thomas Malory, Le Morte Darthur Book XIX, Chapter x, leaf 394v:
Here, Melanie once again provides an interesting variation on the formula, serving as a scout and ambassador between worlds. Don't expect anything new from her human counterparts, though, just the usual shooting and running and hiding slowly festering flesh wounds. 2017 February 23, Katie Rife, “The Girl With All The Gifts tries to put a fresh spin on overripe zombie clichés”, in The A.V. Club, archived from the original on 01 Mar 2017:
[W]ounds immedicable / Ranckle, and feſter, and gangrene, / To black mortification. 1671, John Milton, “Samson Agonistes, […].”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: […] J[ohn] M[acock] for John Starkey […], →OCLC, page 42, lines 521–523:
(figuratively, intransitive) To worsen, especially due to lack of attention.
But the longer the problems are left to fester, the worse they will become. 2024 April 3, Philip Haigh, “Discord over Avanti West Coast is part of a wider problem”, in RAIL, number 1006, page 53:
Deal with the problem immediately; do not let it fester.
All this time hatred, kept down by fear, festered in the hearts of the children of the soil. 1855, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter XVII, in The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, volume IV, London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC, page 116:
Trump’s speech had the fingerprints of Stephen Miller, the White House deputy chief of staff and architect of his draconian immigration policy, all over it. It chimed with an entire discourse of white identity politics festering on the US right. 2026 January 21, David Smith, “Trump paints himself as great white hope in racism-drenched Davos speech”, in The Guardian, →ISSN, archived from the original on 05 Mar 2026:
(transitive) To cause to fester or rankle.
For which I burnt in inward sweltring hate, / And festred rankling malice in my breast, / Till I might belke revenge upon his eyes: […] c. 1599–1600, John Marston, Antonios Reuenge. The Second Part. As it hath beene Sundry Times Acted, by the Children of Paules, London: Printed [by Richard Bradock] for Thomas Fisher, and are to be soulde [by Matthew Lownes] in Saint Dunstans Church-yarde, published 1602, →OCLC, Act I, scene i; republished in J[ames] O[rchard] Halliwell, editor, The Works of John Marston. Reprinted from the Original Editions. With Notes, and some Account of His Life and Writings. … In Three Volumes, volume I, London: John Russell Smith, Soho Square, 1856, →OCLC, page 74
pt supurar (become septic or rotten) · cmn 潰爛 /溃烂 (become septic or rotten) · fi mädäntyä (become septic or rotten) · nl bederven (become septic or rotten) · txb āmp- (become septic or rotten) · es enconarse (to worsen, especially due to lack of attention) · tr cerahatlenmek (become septic or rotten) · cs kvasit (to worsen, especially due to lack of attention) · ru усугубля́ться (to worsen, especially due to lack of attention) · gl supurar (become septic or rotten) · nl verergeren (to worsen, especially due to lack of attention) · bg загноявам (become septic or rotten) · ja 化膿する (become septic or rotten) · mi taematuku (become septic or rotten) · ro supura (become septic or rotten) · cs hnisat (become septic or rotten) · cs podebírat se (become septic or rotten) · cs vyhnívat (to worsen, especially due to lack of attention) · ru гнои́ться (become septic or rotten) · uk гноїтися (become septic or rotten) · rup prunjedz (become septic or rotten) · ja 爛れる (become septic or rotten) · mi tongako (become septic or rotten) · ota ایركلنمك (become septic or rotten) · gd at (become septic or rotten) · la suppūrō (become septic or rotten) · it suppurare (become septic or rotten) · de eitern (become septic or rotten) · ro puroia (become septic or rotten) · pl zaognić się (become septic or rotten) · bg забирам (become septic or rotten) · es enconarse (become septic or rotten) · nl etteren (become septic or rotten) · fr suppurer (become septic or rotten) · ar تَقَيَّحَ (become septic or rotten) · el αφορμίζω (become septic or rotten) · es inquinarse (become septic or rotten) · cs doutnat (to worsen, especially due to lack of attention) · fi muhia (to worsen, especially due to lack of attention) · it infettarsi (become septic or rotten) · cmn 化膿 /化脓 (become septic or rotten) · cs kypět (to worsen, especially due to lack of attention)