infected by radiation poisoning

[victor steinbok]

I don't have OED access this minute (and for another week), but I'd
want to look at the examples. It would be interesting to see if there
is any frequency to "infected with poison", which is still different
from "infected with ... poisoning". There is also a difference between
"infected with the [Holy] Spirit" and "infected with radiation
poisoning". But I would not at all be surprised if I've fallen into
the recency fallacy on this one. I had to think about that expression
for a bit and still came to the conclusion that it was odd. A part of
the problem, for me, is that in radiation poisoning the agent is
inanimate. Can one be "infected with a headache"? "infected with a
stroke"? "infected with broken bones"? I wonder, because these are
closer to radiation than to germs or spirit--but there is no "personal
or material agent" (except for someone who might have broken the
bones, a blood clot that might have caused the stroke, etc.). Can one
be infected with a hereditary disorder or a genetic mutation of any
kind? Nominally, none of these would be barred by these definitions.
Of course, 1. would apply to poisons (it literally mentions them), but
then it's "obsolete or rare"--and perhaps was rare before it was
obsolete. The same can be said about 2. And 3. and 4. are closer to
the currently standard meaning--but has the meaning narrowed or are
the lemmas simply too broad?

VS-)

PS: no need to post all the examples on my account. I'll have access
again in a few days.

On 8/4/11, Joel S. Berson <Berson at att.net> wrote:
>
> Seems like an old and honored sense.  From the OED:
>
> To imbue a person or thing with certain (esp.
> bad) qualities; said either of the personal or material agent.
>
>   1. trans. To affect, influence, or imbue with
> some quality or property by immersion or infusion.
> b. To impregnate or imbue with some qualifying
> substance, or active principle, as poison, or
> salt; to taint. Obs. or rare.  (1550 through 1853)
>
> †2. To affect injuriously or unpleasantly; to
> spoil or corrupt by noxious influence, admixture,
> or alloy; to adulterate. Obs.  (1440 through 1693)
>
> 3. To impregnate or taint with deleterious
> qualities; to fill (the air, etc.) with noxious
> corruption or the germs of disease; to render
> injurious to health.  [I.e., not only with germs.]  (1480 through 1885
>
> 4. a. To affect (a person, animal, or part of the
> body) with disease; to communicate a morbific
> virus or noxious germs so as to generate disease;
> to act upon by infection or contagion. Also absol.  (c1386 through 1845)
>
> [And then various senses less literally related to noxiousness or disease.]
>
> Joel

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org