Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Of, relating to, having the nature of, or affected by sepsis.
  • adjective Causing sepsis; putrefactive.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Of or pertaining to sepsis in general; putrefactive or putrefying; septical: opposed to antiseptic.
  • noun A substance which causes sepsis.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective (Math.) Of the seventh degree or order.
  • noun A substance that promotes putrefaction.
  • adjective Having power to promote putrefaction.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun mathematics A mathematical object (function, curve, surface, etc.) of degree seven.
  • adjective Of or pertaining to sepsis.
  • adjective Causing sepsis or putrefaction.
  • adjective Of or pertaining to sewage or the disposal of sewage.
  • noun A substance that causes sepsis or putrefaction.
  • noun A septic tank; a system for the disposal of sewage into a septic tank, a septic system.
  • noun UK, Australia, New Zealand, rhyming slang An American, a Yank.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective of or relating to or caused by putrefaction
  • adjective containing or resulting from disease-causing organisms

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Latin sēpticus, putrefying, from Greek sēptikos, from sēptos, rotten, from sēpein, to make rotten.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin septem ("seven").

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Ancient Greek σηπτικός (sēptikos, "characterized by putridity"), from σηπτός (sēptos), from σήπειν (sēpein).

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Short form of Cockney rhyming slang septic tank ("Yank").

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