Typhoid Mary
noun
a carrier or transmitter of anything undesirable, harmful, or catastrophic.
Origin of Typhoid Mary
after
Mary Mallon (died 1938), Irish-born cook in the U.S., who was found to be a typhoid carrier
Definition for typhoid mary (2 of 2)
Mallon
[ mal-uh n ]
/ ˈmæl ən /
noun
MaryTyphoid Mary,1869?–1938,
U.S. cook, born in Ireland: known immune carrier of typhoid fever who infected many with the disease, institutionalized in 1914.
Cultural definitions for typhoid mary (1 of 2)
Typhoid Mary
A person likely to cause a disaster; from Mary Mallen, an Irish woman in the United States who was discovered to be a carrier of typhoid fever.
Cultural definitions for typhoid mary (2 of 2)
Typhoid Mary
A cook who carried typhoid fever and passed it on to many people in and around New York City in the early twentieth century.
notes for Typhoid Mary
The term is often applied to the carrier of a
contagious disease, or, more generally, to anyone who brings bad luck: “The last three insurance companies I had policies with folded. I feel like Typhoid Mary.”
Idioms and Phrases with typhoid mary
typhoid Mary
A carrier or spreader of misfortune, as in I swear he's a typhoid Mary; everything at the office has gone wrong since he was hired. This expression alludes to a real person, Mary Manson, who died in 1938. An Irish-born servant, she transmitted typhoid fever to others and was referred to as “typhoid Mary” from the early 1900s. The term was broadened to other carriers of calamity in the mid-1900s.