Saint Vitus's dance

or Saint Vi·tus' dance

[ vahy-tuh-siz ]

noun

1. St. Vitus's dance.

Saint Vitus's dance

/ ˈvaɪtəsɪz /

noun

1. pathol a nontechnical name for Sydenham's chorea

Word History and Origins

Origin of Saint Vitus's dance¹

C17: so called because sufferers traditionally prayed to Saint Vitus (3rd-century child martyr) for relief and were said to be cured by a visit to his shrine

Example Sentences

Don’t come straggling into the office one morning muttering, “First, gout. Now ague, biliousness, lumbago, Saint Vitus’s dance and dropsy. What’s next, apoplexy?”

From Washington Post

“Have you got Saint Vitus’s dance, Amy Drew?”

From Project Gutenberg

Insanity, epilepsy, delirium, hysteria, Saint Vitus’s dance, and in fact all obstinate disorders for which no specific is known, are invariably ascribed to the influence of demons or sorcerers, and the patient is either declared to be possessed of a devil, or to labour under the disastrous consequences of inumbration by the shadow of an enemy.

From Project Gutenberg

They got as much chance with me as a man with Saint Vitus's dance has of landing a trout.

From Project Gutenberg

S. Saint Vitus's dance, 240. symptoms of, 241. treatment of, 242.

From Project Gutenberg