Annoying someone repeatedly with unwanted requests or bothering; harassing persistently.
From Middle French 'pester,' possibly derived from 'empester' meaning 'to infect with plague.' The idea evolved from physical plague/infection to emotional 'infection' through constant bothering.
The word 'pester' originally meant to infect with plague—showing how medieval people conceptualized annoying behavior as a kind of sickness or contamination that spreads through persistence.
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