quarantine

SayKWOR-uhn-teen/ˈkwɔɹ.ən.tin/UK/ˈkwɒɹ.ən.tiːn/

Verbquarantines, quarantining, quarantined

16 meanings of quarantine

1
nouncountable or uncountable
A time of keeping people or animals away from others to stop a disease from spreading.
Like staying in your room when you are sick so no one else catches it.
After the trip, the whole family had to stay in quarantine for two weeks.
The sick birds were kept under quarantine until they were healthy again.
Similarisolation, confinement, segregation
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2
verbtransitive
To keep a sick person or animal away from others so a disease does not spread.
Like keeping a sick puppy in a separate room until it gets better.
Doctors decided to quarantine the patient as soon as the test came back positive.
The farmers had to quarantine the new sheep before mixing them with the herd.
Similarisolate, segregate, confine, sequester
Oppositerelease, free
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3
verbintransitive
To stay away from other people for a while so you do not catch or spread a disease.
Like staying home from school when you feel sick so your friends do not catch it.
When the flu spread through town, many families chose to quarantine at home.
He had to quarantine for ten days after returning from his trip.
Similarisolate, self-isolate
Oppositesocialize, mingle
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4
nounfigurativelycountable or uncountable
A time of being kept apart or shut away from others, often by one's own choice.
Like cutting yourself off from everyone, the way you might hide in your room for days.
After the breakup, he put himself into a kind of social quarantine for months.
The disgraced official spent a year in political quarantine, ignored by everyone.
Similarisolation, seclusion, exile, confinement
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5
nouncountable
A place where people or animals are kept apart to stop a disease from spreading.
Like a waiting room where sick people stay so others stay healthy.
Ships had to wait outside the harbor at the quarantine until the doctor allowed them in.
The animals were taken straight to the quarantine when they arrived at the port.
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6
nounfigurativelyuncountable
The act of cutting off one program or computer from the rest so a virus cannot spread.
Like putting a sick computer file in a locked box so it cannot touch anything else.
The antivirus put the bad file into quarantine so it could not harm the computer.
Once the virus was found, the laptop was placed in quarantine away from the network.
Similarisolation
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7
nounfigurativelycountable
A file or program that has been shut away from the rest of a computer because it may be harmful.
Like a file kept in a locked box because the computer thinks it might be dangerous.
The technician checked every quarantine before deleting it for good.
Each quarantine on the list was a file the scanner thought was unsafe.
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8
nounfigurativelycountable
An action one country takes to cut off another, such as stopping trade or talks.
Like the whole class refusing to play with one student until they say sorry.
The larger nation placed its rival under a strict quarantine, halting all trade between them.
Other countries joined the quarantine and refused to do business with the regime.
Similarblockade, embargo, isolation
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9
verbfigurativelytransitive
To keep something or someone apart from everything else.
Like putting one bad apple in its own bowl so it does not touch the others.
The teacher decided to quarantine the noisy desk in the corner of the room.
Engineers quarantine the broken section so the rest of the system can keep working.
Similarisolate, separate, segregate, sequester
Oppositeintegrate, combine
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10
verbfigurativelytransitive
To limit something or hold it back to a small part.
Like keeping your candy in one jar so you do not eat it all at once.
The new rules quarantine spending to only the most urgent needs.
Managers quarantine overtime to a few busy weeks each year.
Similarrestrict
Oppositefree, release
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11
nouncountable
A length of time that lasts forty days.
Like counting off forty days on a calendar from start to finish.
The pilgrims set aside a quarantine for prayer and fasting.
Her mourning lasted a quarantine, exactly forty days.
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12
nounhistoricalcountable
The forty-day wait that ships and travelers had to spend apart from others to stop the plague from spreading.
Like waiting forty days outside a town's gate before being let in.
Every ship arriving at Venice had to keep the quarantine before its cargo could be unloaded.
The travelers grumbled through the long quarantine on the island.
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13
verbobsoleteintransitive
To set up rules that keep people apart so a disease does not spread.
Like a school deciding to close its doors when too many children get sick.
When plague reached the coast, the city moved to quarantine at once.
It has just been announced that Norfolk, Va., and Holly Springs, Miss., have quarantined against Memphis.
1879, The TimesHere, quarantined means set up rules keeping people apart to stop disease spreading.
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14
nounhistoricalcountable
The forty days a widow could stay in her dead husband's home while her share of his property was settled.
Like being allowed to stay in a rented room for a set number of days after the lease ends.
By law the widow could claim her quarantine and stay in the house for forty days.
Querentyne is where a man dyeth seisyd of a maner place and other landis where of the wyfe ought to be indowed, than the woman shall hold the maner place by .xl. days within which tyme her dower shalbe to her assyned.
c. 1523, John Rastell, Exposiciones Terminorum Legum AnglorumHere, Querentyne means the forty days a widow may stay in her late husband's home.
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15
nounhistoricalcountable
The forty days the French king made fighting nobles wait before they could take revenge or fight again.
Like a referee making two players sit apart for a while so they stop fighting.
The king declared a quarantine, so the two families had to stop fighting for forty days.
Forty days, called the King's quarantain, were allowed the friends or relations of a principal in a private war to grant or find security.
1818, Alexander Ranken, The History of FranceHere, quarantain means forty days when feuding nobles had to wait before fighting.
Similartruce
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16
proper nounobsolete
Alternative capitalization of Quarantine. Used as a name for the mountain near Jericho linked to Jesus's forty-day fast.
By yonde ys a wyldernys of quarentyne, Wher Cryst wyth fastyng hys body dyd pyne; In that holy place, as we rede, The deuyl wold had of stonys bred.
c. 1470, William Wey, The ItinerariesHere, quarentyne is the name of the wilderness place where Jesus fasted.
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Practice

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Origin

It comes from a Latin word meaning a period of 40 days. This traces back to the Latin word for 40.