canker (1 fig. ? sometimes to be referred to 2)
1.
eating, spreading sore or ulcer, usu. fig.
John V. ii. 14
“the inveterate canker
of one wound,”
2H6 I. ii. 18
“the canker of ambitious
thoughts,”
Tim. IV. iii. 49.
2.
‘worm’
that destroys buds and leaves, also fig. (freq.)
Gent. I. i. 43, MND. II. ii. 3, Rom. II. iii. 30,
Ham. I. iii. 39
“The canker galls the
infants of the spring,”
V. ii. 69
“this canker of our
nature,”
Sonn. xxxv. 4; hence canker-bit, worm-eaten Lr. V. iii. 124, canker-sorrow
John III. iv. 82.
3.
dog-rose
Ado I. iii. 28
“I had rather be a
canker in a hedge than a rose in his
grace,”
1H4 I. iii. 176; hence
canker-bloom
Sonn. liv. 5.
