Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun Poisoning caused by consuming ergot-infected grain or grain products, or from excessive use of drugs containing ergot.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun The spur of rye; ergot.
- noun The morbid state induced by the excessive ingestion of ergot, as from the use of spurred or ergoted rye as food. Spasmodic and gangrenous forms are distinguished.
- noun A logical inference; a conclusion.
- noun Logical reasoning; ratiocination.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun obsolete A logical deduction.
- noun (Med.) A diseased condition produced by eating rye affected with the ergot fungus.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun The effect of long-term
ergot poisoning , traditionally due to theingestion of thealkaloids produced by the Claviceps purpureafungus which infectsrye and othercereals , and more recently by the action of a number ofergoline -based drugs.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun poisoning by ingestion of ergot-infected grain products; characterized by thirst and diarrhea and nausea and cramping and vomiting and abnormal cardiac rhythms; in severe cases it can cause seizures and gangrene of the limbs
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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The condition called ergotism or St. Anthony’s fire, common in medieval Europe, was caused by a mycotoxin produced by a mold that grew in rye bread.
HOME COMFORTS CHERYL MENDELSON 2005
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The condition called ergotism or St. Anthony’s fire, common in medieval Europe, was caused by a mycotoxin produced by a mold that grew in rye bread.
HOME COMFORTS CHERYL MENDELSON 2005
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The condition called ergotism or St. Anthony’s fire, common in medieval Europe, was caused by a mycotoxin produced by a mold that grew in rye bread.
HOME COMFORTS CHERYL MENDELSON 2005
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The condition called ergotism or St. Anthony’s fire, common in medieval Europe, was caused by a mycotoxin produced by a mold that grew in rye bread.
HOME COMFORTS CHERYL MENDELSON 2005
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Indeed Safire should be remembered, not only as a man passionate about language, but as a civil and urbane conservative who, I would like to believe, was as appalled by the current outbreak of right-wing political ergotism as am I.
Archive 2009-09-01 2009
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Finally there are the everyday bits and pieces of life on earth in the new millennium — a smorgasbord of climate change, natural and unnatural disasters, the political ergotism presently infecting America, animal news, poetry, technology, good books and better gossip.
Archive 2009-12-01 2009
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But there appears to be no precedent at all for the current outbreak of political ergotism.
Archive 2009-09-01 2009
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I have a book on poisons that suggests that the Black Death may have been brought on by immunocompromisation due to widespread ergotism that year...
seanan_mcguire: 100 Books That Rocked My World, 2009 Edition. seanan_mcguire 2009
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Indeed Safire should be remembered, not only as a man passionate about language, but as a civil and urbane conservative who, I would like to believe, was as appalled by the current outbreak of right-wing political ergotism as am I.
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But there appears to be no precedent at all for the current outbreak of political ergotism.
oroboros commented on the word ergotism
"St. Vitus' Dance"
December 21, 2006
treeseed commented on the word ergotism
See St. Anthony's Fire
January 27, 2008
asativum commented on the word ergotism
Also an annoying tendency to bandy about ones own deductions.
June 28, 2008
pterodactyl commented on the word ergotism
Hah! Excellent, Asa!
June 28, 2008
hernesheir commented on the word ergotism
See examples under ergotisms.
April 12, 2011
ruzuzu commented on the word ergotism
From The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia:
"n. The spur of rye; ergot.
n. The morbid state induced by the excessive ingestion of ergot, as from the use of spurred or ergoted rye as food. Spasmodic and gangrenous forms are distinguished.
n. A logical inference; a conclusion.
n. Logical reasoning; ratiocination."
November 20, 2018