scabies

American  

[skey-beez, -bee-eez] / ˈskeɪ biz, -biˌiz /

noun

(used with a singular verb)

1. a contagious skin disease occurring especially in sheep and cattle and also in humans, caused by the itch mite, Sarcoptes scabiei, which burrows under the skin.

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scabies British  

/ -bɪˌiːz, ˌskeɪbɪˈɛtɪk, ˈskeɪbiːz /

noun

1. a contagious skin infection caused by the mite Sarcoptes scabiei, characterized by intense itching, inflammation, and the formation of vesicles and pustules

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Other Word Forms

• scabietic
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of scabies

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English, from Latin scabiēs “roughness, itch,” from scabere “to scratch, scrape”; see also shave

Example Sentences

Rat Scabies, drummer for the pioneering punk band the Damned, has a nice cameo as the proprietor of a music store that also deals in guns.

From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 4, 2024

Scabies, diarrhea and respiratory infections rip through overcrowded shelters.

From Seattle Times • Nov. 9, 2023

Scabies broke out among the inmates, and a golf-ball-size pustule grew on Hossein’s nose.

From The New Yorker • Dec. 3, 2018

Scabies, an itchy, highly infectious disease caused by mites, afflicted many Chinese.

From New York Times • Nov. 15, 2018

They profess to recognize 36 different kinds of leprosy, among which they enumerate every form and variety of 456Lichen, Scabies, Psoriasis, and Syphilis.

From Narrative of the Circumnavigation of the Globe by the Austrian Frigate Novara, Volume II (Commodore B. Von Wullerstorf-Urbair,) Undertaken by Order of the Imperial Government in the Years 1857, 1858, & 1859, Under the Immediate Auspices of His I. and R. Highness the Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian, Commander-In-Chief of the Austrian Navy. by Scherzer, Karl Ritter von

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