infest
verb
[ ɪnˈfɛst ]
• (of insects or animals) be present (in a place or site) in large numbers, typically so as to cause damage or disease.
• "the house is infested with cockroaches"
Similar:
overrun,
spread through,
take over,
overspread,
swarm over,
crawl over,
run riot over,
invade,
penetrate,
infiltrate,
pervade,
permeate,
inundate,
overwhelm,
beset,
pester,
plague,
swarming,
teeming,
crawling,
bristling,
alive,
ridden,
infiltrated,
permeated,
plagued,
vermined,
Origin:
late Middle English (in the sense ‘torment, harass’): from French infester or Latin infestare ‘assail’, from infestus ‘hostile’. The current sense dates from the mid 16th century.
