summer complaint

American  

noun

1. an acute condition of diarrhea, occurring during the hot summer months chiefly in infants and children, caused by bacterial contamination of food and associated with poor hygiene.

---

Etymology

Origin of summer complaint

An Americanism dating back to 1840–50

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

summer complaint

Delight in summer, complaint of winter--this is the fundamental chord struck again and again; there is scarcely any trace of blending the feelings of the lover with those of Nature.

From The Development of the Feeling for Nature in the Middle Ages and Modern Times by Alfred Biese

One of the children too has been troubled with the "summer complaint" for a day or two; but he thinks that a dose of catnip, under Providence, will effect a cure.

From Dream Life A Fable Of The Seasons by Donald Grant Mitchell

For a patient with summer complaint, flavor by boiling a stick of cinnamon in it.

From The Easiest Way in Housekeeping and Cooking Adapted to Domestic Use or Study in Classes by Helen Campbell

Heretofore the baby has been expected to cry and to have summer complaint before anybody worried about the treatment it received.

From Civics and Health by William H. Allen

Camomile tea is good for sleeplessness; calamus and catnip for babies' colic; and cinnamon for hemorrhages and summer complaint.

From The Easiest Way in Housekeeping and Cooking Adapted to Domestic Use or Study in Classes by Helen Campbell