blain
Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition
- noun A skin swelling or sore; a blister; a blotch.
from The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- noun A pustule; a blotch; a blister.
- noun A bubble of water.
- noun In farriery, a bladder growing on the root of the tongue against the windpipe, and tending to cause suffocation.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English
- noun An inflammatory swelling or sore; a bulla, pustule, or blister.
Examples
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The blain is a vesicular enlargement on the lateral and under part of the tongue in horses, oxen, and dogs, which, although not of unfrequent occurrence, or peculiarly fatal result, has not been sufficiently noticed by veterinary authors.
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Two generations back they still stood dark and empty; people avoided them as they passed by; the boldest schoolboy only shouted through the keyhole and made off; for within, it was supposed, the plague lay ambushed like a basilisk, ready to flow forth and spread blain and pustule through the city.
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It is often mistaken for blain, -- inflammation of the tongue, or black tongue, -- and usually occurs in the winter, or early in the spring.
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"An' I hev cussed you, yes, an' all the Warrens; an' I hev cussed Si -- yes, cussed him with a blight an' a blain, an' the sufferin' o 'death' thout death!" and rising she left the room.
Note
The word 'blain' may be related to 'bladder'.
