Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English homepage

Date: 1500-1600
Language: French
Origin: infester, from Latin, from infestus 'angry and unfriendly'

infest

 verb
     
Related topics: Biology
in‧fest [transitive usually passive]
1HB if insects, rats etc infest a place, there are a lot of them and they usually cause damage
be infested with something
The kitchen was infested with cockroaches.
shark-infested/rat-infested etc
shark-infested waters
2 if things or people you do not want infest a place, there are too many of them:
an area infested with holiday homes
—infestation noun [uncountable and countable]
Definition from the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
Advanced Learner's Dictionary.

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