milk sickness
- a disease of humans, formerly common in some parts of the Middle West, caused by consuming milk from cattle that have been poisoned by eating certain kinds of snakeroot.
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Origin of milk sickness
An Americanism dating back to 1815–25
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for milk sickness
Historical Examples
The really successful author in America is, like the milk-sickness, never visible, except on the remote horizon.
A Fortnight of FollyMaurice Thompson
milk sickness
- an acute disease characterized by weakness, vomiting, and constipation, caused by ingestion of the flesh or dairy products of cattle affected with trembles
- vet science another name for trembles (def. 1)
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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
milk sickness
- An acute, now rare disease characterized by trembling, vomiting, and severe intestinal pain, caused by eating dairy products or meat from a cow that has fed on white snakeroot.
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The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.