be at the plague

verb

To be bothered; to make the effort to do something.

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Meanings

verbbe at the plague (third-person singular simple present is at the plague, present participle being at the plague, simple past was at the plague, past participle been at the plague)

present singular third person is at the plague · participle present being at the plague · past was at the plague · participle past been at the plague

  1. idiomaticobsoleteTo be bothered; to make the effort to do something.

    One of a hundred a year, or so, is all I wish:—I would not be at the plague of paying land-tax for a larger.

    1748, Tobias Smollett, The Adventures of Roderick Random
    1 more example

    I am a man of few word but I am laird at hame, as weel as in the field; deil a brute or body about my house but I can manage when I like, except Rory Bean, my powny; but I can seldom be at the plague, an it binna when my bluid's up.

    1818 July 25, Jedediah Cleishbotham [pseudonym; Walter Scott], Tales of My Landlord, Second Series, […] (The Heart of Mid-Lothian), volume (please specify |volume=I to IV), Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for Archibald Constable and Company, →OCLC
Cite this entry
APA

be at the plague. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/be%20at%20the%20plague

MLA

“be at the plague.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/be%20at%20the%20plague. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “be at the plague,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/be%20at%20the%20plague.

Source: be at the plague on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.