QUARANTINE

I. noun see: four Date: 1609 a period of 40 days, 2. a term during which a ship arriving in port and suspected of carrying contagious disease is held in isolation from the shore, a regulation placing a ship in ~, a place where a ship is detained during ~, 3. a restraint upon the activities or communication of persons or the transport of goods designed to prevent the spread of disease or pests, a place in which those under ~ are kept, a state of enforced isolation, II. verb (-tined; -tining) Date: 1804 transitive verb to detain in or exclude by ~, to isolate from normal relations or communication , intransitive verb to establish or declare a ~