elephantiasis

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Disease is very rare amongst the Lepchas; and ophthalmic, elephantiasis, and leprosy, the scourges of hot climates, are rarely known.

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Definitions (4)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. noun Chronic, often extreme enlargement and hardening of cutaneous and subcutaneous tissue, especially of the legs and external genitals, resulting from lymphatic obstruction and usually caused by infestation of the lymph glands and vessels with a filarial worm.

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Examples (50)

  • People with strong IgE responses to filarial worms often have elephantiasis--an enlarged scrotum, enlarged thighs--or terrible chronic pulmonary disease. —  Omni: May 1994
  • We in the north are marvelously free of many plagues found in warmer lands -- leprosy, elephantiasis, and such. —  F ;SF - vol 090 issue 03 - March 1996
  • “May all its directors get elephantiasis, locomotor ataxy and ingrowing toe-nails Oh, quite,” said Tallboy. —  Murder Must Advertise
  • Lymphatic Filariasis (LF) or elephantiasis is a parasitic disease transmitted by mosquitoes that affects the world's poorest countries.
  • The ES-62 molecule circulates in millions of infected people in the Tropics and prevents the massive inflammatory responses that the worms are otherwise capable of producing in conditions such as elephantiasis. —  dailyindia.com News Feed
 

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Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Latin elephantiāsis, from Greek : elephās, elephant-, elephant + -iāsis, -iasis.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. from Latin elephantiasis, from Greek ἐλεφαντίασις, a skin-disease, so called from its giving the skin the appearance of an elephant's hide, from ἐλέφας (ἐλεφαντ-), elephant: see elephant.
 

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/ɛləfænˈtaɪəsɪs/
by American Heritage

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