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chorea

[kuh-ree-uh, kaw-, koh-]
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noun Pathology.
  1. any of several diseases of the nervous system characterized by jerky, involuntary movements, chiefly of the face and extremities.
  2. Also called St. Vitus's dance. such a disease occurring chiefly in children and associated with rheumatic fever.
  3. Veterinary Pathology. a disease of the central nervous system caused by bacterial or organic degeneration, most common in dogs following canine distemper, characterized by irregular, jerky, involuntary muscular movements.

Origin of chorea

1680–90; < Greek choreía a dance, equivalent to chor(ós) chorus + -eia -y3
Related formscho·re·al, cho·re·ic, cho·re·at·ic [kawr-ee-at-ik, kohr-] /ˌkɔr iˈæt ɪk, ˌkoʊr-/, adjectivecho·re·oid [kawr-ee-oid, kohr-] /ˈkɔr iˌɔɪd, ˈkoʊr-/, adjective
Can be confusedchorea Korea
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for choreic

Historical Examples

  • Choreic symptoms have been produced by injecting granules of starch into the arteries entering the brain.

    Special Report on Diseases of the Horse

    United States Department of Agriculture

  • Choreic patients are very irregular in their walk, as in all other movements.

  • The choreic shocks were found to be arrested by section of the sciatic nerve.

  • If they are superfluous and out of place, the absence of exaggeration or absurdity negatives their classification as choreic.

  • Unilateral implication of the pterygoids has been noted by Leube in a young girl who was also an hysteric and a choreic.

British Dictionary definitions for choreic

chorea

noun
  1. a disorder of the central nervous system characterized by uncontrollable irregular brief jerky movementsSee Huntington's disease, Sydenham's chorea
Derived Formschoreal or choreic, adjective

Word Origin

C19: from New Latin, from Latin: dance, from Greek khoreia, from khoros dance; see chorus
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for choreic

chorea

n.

1806, from Modern Latin chorea Sancti Viti "St. Vitus dance" (originally a mass hysteria in 15c. Europe characterized by uncontrolled dancing); from Latin chorea "a dance," from Greek khoreia "dance" (see chorus). Extension to the nerve disorder is from 1620s.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
choreic in Medicine

chorea

(kô-rē′ə, kə-)
n.
  1. Irregular, spasmodic, involuntary movements of the limbs or facial muscles.
Related formscho•re′al null adj.
The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.