Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun An abnormal fear of water.
- noun Rabies.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun In pathology: A symptom of rabies in man, consisting in a furious a version to liquids and an inability to swallow them. See
rabies . - noun Hence— Rabies, especially in human beings.
- noun Any morbid or unnatural dread of water, such as may exist independently of rabies.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun An abnormal dread of water, said to be a symptom of canine madness; hence
- noun A viral disease trransmitted by a bite from, or inoculation with the saliva of, a rabid creature, of which the chief symptoms are, a sense of dryness and constriction in the throat, causing difficulty in deglutition, and a marked heightening of reflex excitability, producing convulsions whenever the patient attempts to swallow, or is disturbed in any way, as by the sight or sound of water; rabies; canine madness.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun pathology An
aversion towater , as a symptom ofrabies ;rabies itself. - noun
Fear ofwater (colloquial, fear of water is technically calledaquaphobia , so not to be confused with rabies).
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun an acute viral disease of the nervous system of warm-blooded animals (usually transmitted by the bite of a rabid animal); rabies is fatal if the virus reaches the brain
- noun a symptom of rabies in humans consisting of an aversion to swallowing liquids
- noun a morbid fear of water
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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(By the way, I am told that hydrophobia is unknown in Cochin China.)
The Golden Chersonese and the Way Thither Isabella Lucy 1883
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In sum, I cannot imagine how anything can be more prejudicial to a monarchy than the allowing of such books to be publicly read, without present applying such correctives of discreet masters as are fit to take away their venom: which venom I will not doubt to compare to the biting of a mad dog, which is a disease that physicians call hydrophobia, or fear of water.
Leviathan 2007
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“Rabies's scientific name is hydrophobia, which people associate as a fear of water, but I think it's called hydrophobia because of the foaming that occurs,” said Mangrove.
Wake Up, Sir! Jonathan Ames 2004
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In the case of the dog bite we have a more or less extensive break in the skin and sometimes a deep wound in the flesh, through which the poison of hydrophobia, which is a living virus or animal poison, may be introduced, to be taken up slowly by the nerves themselves, reaching the central nervous system in about forty days.
Scouting For Girls, Official Handbook of the Girl Scouts Girl Scouts of the United States of America 1918
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They had no taste for such doings; in fact, the hydrophobia is a national malady, and shows itself in their persons as well as their actions.
Chapter XXV. Rumors of War-A Spouter-Slipping for a South-Easter-A Gale 1909
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Amongst the several disadvantages of a close personal connection with the canine tooth, the disorder known as hydrophobia has long held an undisputed primacy.
The Shadow On The Dial, and Other Essays 1909 Ambrose Bierce 1878
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I take occasion at this time to ask the American people as one man, what are we to do to prevent the spread of the most insidious and disagreeable disease known as hydrophobia?
Remarks Bill Nye 1873
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They had no taste for such doings; in fact, the hydrophobia is a national malady, and shows itself in their persons as well as their actions.
Two years before the mast, and twenty-four years after: a personal narrative 1869
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They had no taste for such doings; in fact, the hydrophobia is a national malady, and shows itself in their persons as well as their actions.
Two Years Before the Mast Richard Henry Dana 1848
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They had no taste for such doings; in fact, the hydrophobia is a national malady, and shows itself in their persons as well as their actions.
Two Years Before the Mast Richard Henry Dana 1848
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