Measles
Measles , noun
[From 1st Measle.]
Leprosy; also, a leper. [Obsolete]
Measles , noun
[Dutch mazelen; akin to German masern, pl., and English mazer, and orig. meaning, little spots. See Mazer.]
1.
(Medicine) A contagious viral febrile disorder commencing with catarrhal symptoms, and marked by the appearance on the third day of an eruption of distinct red circular spots, which coalesce in a crescentic form, are slightly raised above the surface, and after the fourth day of the eruption gradually decline; rubeola. It is a common childhood disease.
Measles commences with the ordinary symptoms of fever.
2.
(Veter. Medicine) A disease of cattle and swine in which the flesh is filled with the embryos of different varieties of the tapeworm.
3.
A disease of trees. [Obsolete]
4.
(Zoology) The larvae of any tapeworm (Taenia) in the cysticercus stage, when contained in meat. Called also bladder worms.
Collocations (1)
German measles , A mild contagious viral disease, which may cause birth defects if contracted by a pregnant woman during early pregnancy; also called rubella.