blackleg

1. (uncountable, agriculture, veterinary medicine) A fatal cattle disease caused by the soil-borne bacterium Clostridium chauvoei; symptomatic anthrax.uncountable

2. (uncountable) A disease of potato crops caused by pectolytic bacteria, characterized by blackening and decay of the lower stem portion.uncountable

3. (uncountable) A disease of brassicas caused by the fungus Leptosphaeria maculansuncountable

4. (countable) A person who cheats in a game; a cheater, especially a dishonest bookmaker.Examples: "[H]ere, then, was a community of good taste and kind feeling, no sharpers, no black-legs, no wolves in sheep's clothing."; "[Y]our friend Bloundell-Bloundell is a professional blackleg, and travels the Continent, where he picks up young gentlemen of fashion and fleeces them."; "They have no regard for respectability like yours — nothing between a baron and a blackleg."countable

5. (countable) A person who takes the place of striking workers.Examples: "In the autumn there was a row at some cement works about the unskilled labour men. A union had just been started for them and all but a few joined. One of these blacklegs was laid for by a picket and knocked out of time."; "It's in the evening after dark when the blackleg miner creeps to work. With his moleskin pants and his dirty shirt, there goes the blackleg miner."; "There was some sympathy for the miners among the railway workers, members of the ASRS [Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants], but any who advocated sympathetic action in support of the miners were instantly dismissed. The company attempted to bring in blacklegs from outside the area under the auspices of the National Free Labour Association but ASRS members used various means to ‘persuade’ most of them to return whence they came. Very few strikebreakers and blacklegs succeeded in assisting the company and those who did could expect to be roughed up."Synonyms: blacklegger, scab, scalie, strikebreakercountable