blackleg

noun

1. (uncountable)A fatal cattle disease caused by the soil-borne bacterium Clostridium chauvoei; symptomatic anthrax.
2. (uncountable)A disease of potato crops caused by pectolytic bacteria, characterized by blackening and decay of the lower stem portion.
3. (uncountable)A disease of brassicas caused by the fungus Leptosphaeria maculans
4. (countable)A person who cheats in a game; a cheater, especially a dishonest bookmaker.

   “[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.”

   “I had never defrauded a man of a farthing, nor called him knave behind his back. But now the last rag that covered my nakedness had been torn from me. I was branded a blackleg, card-sharper, and murderer.”

5. (countable)A person who takes the place of striking workers.

   “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.”

verb

1. To continue working whilst fellow workers strike.

   “Why was I there, munitioning, blacklegging, slaving as though my bread depended on it?”