Emily Dickinson Lexicon

VIR'U-LENCE, or VIR'U-LEN-CY, n. [from virulent.]

1. That quality of a thing which renders it extremely active in doing injury; acrimony; malignancy; as, the virulence of poison.
2. Acrimony of temper; extreme bitterness or malignity; as, the virulence of enmity or malice; the virulence of satire; to attack a man with virulence. – Addison.