cholera

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. An acute infectious disease of the small intestine, caused by the bacterium Vibrio cholerae and characterized by profuse watery diarrhea, vomiting, muscle cramps, severe dehydration, and depletion of electrolytes. Also called Asiatic cholera.
2. n. Any of various diseases of domesticated animals, such as chickens, turkeys, or hogs, marked by severe gastroenteritis.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. An infectious and often rapidly fatal disease, prevailing epidemically, generally preceded by a diarrhea, and marked by violent purging of watery stools with flocculent particles suspended in them (“rice-water stools”), vomiting, cramps, especially in the legs and abdominal walls, and profound collapse: specifically termed Asiatic cholera. In cholera, as in typhoid fever, the morbific particles, probably living germs, seem, as a rule, to be transmitted by emanation or exhalation from the stools of the patient. They are destroyed by boiling. The period of incubation is short, from a few hours to two or three days. Cholera is endemic in India, and at different periods it has swept as an epidemic with great violence over Asia and (since 1829) over Europe and America.
2. n. An acute disorder of the digestive organs, not epidemic, marked by vomiting, purging, colic, and cramps in the legs and abdominal walls, with considerable exhaustion, mostly confined to the hotter months, and frequently due to errors of diet: specifically called sporadic cholera and cholera morbus.
3. n. A destructive infectious disease of fowls, characterized by a yellow or green diarrhea, with an offensive odor, and great weakness and speedy death. It is held to be caused by a bacterium, and is promoted by uncleanliness. Usually called chicken-cholera or fowl-cholera.

Wiktionary

1. n. pathology Any of several acute infectious diseases of humans and domestic animals, caused by the Vibrio cholerae bacterium through ingestion of contaminated water or food, usually marked by severe gastrointestinal symptoms such as diarrhea, abdominal cramps, nausea, vomiting, and dehydration

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. (Med.) One of several diseases affecting the digestive and intestinal tract and more or less dangerous to life, esp. the one commonly called Asiatic cholera.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. an acute intestinal infection caused by ingestion of contaminated water or food