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Definition of smallpox : A contagious, constitutional, febrile disease characterized by a peculiar eruption; variola. The cutaneous eruption is at first a collection of papules which become vesicles ( first flat, subsequently umbilicated) and then pustules, and finally thick crusts which slough after a certain time, often leaving a pit, or scar.

Synonyms:

variola major virus, variola, bilharzia, cowpox, the pox, variola major, AIDS, chickenpox, the Black Death, disease, bubonic plague, bird flu, chlamydia, amoebic dysentery, avian flu, black lung

Usage examples:

• Life is made up of currents of thought as real as are the currents of air, and if we could but see them, there are currents of thought we would avoid as we would smallpox germs. - "In Times Like These", Nellie L. McClung.
• " Mrs. Blank, this is the nurse at the smallpox tent. - "The Story of a Doctor's Telephone--Told by His Wife", Ellen M. Firebaugh.
• The following years were still more terrible for the town; smallpox carried off one- fourth of the population of Quebec. - "The Makers of Canada: Bishop Laval", A. Leblond de Brumath.