chickenpox

or chick·en pox

[ chik-uh n-poks ]

/ ˈtʃɪk ənˌpɒks /

noun

a disease, commonly of children, caused by the varicella zoster virus and characterized by mild headache and fever, malaise, and eruption of blisters on the skin and mucous membranes.

Nearby words

chicken-and-egg, chicken-fried, chicken-fry, chicken-hearted, chicken-livered, chickenpox, chickenpox immune globulin (human), chickenpox virus, chickens come home to roost, chickenshit, chickpea

Origin of chickenpox

First recorded in 1720–30

Also called varicella.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for chickenpox

In January, Barbara Walters, 83, suffered from a rare case of chickenpox, leaving her View perch for six weeks.
Did ‘The View’ Just Lose Joy Behar and Elisabeth Hasselbeck?|Ramin Setoodeh|March 8, 2013|DAILY BEAST
This forms one of its distinguishing features when chickenpox is compared with smallpox.
The Home Medical Library, Volume I (of VI)|Various
The crystalline eruption was not chickenpox; for the three first cases of it had all gone through chickenpox before.
A History of Epidemics in Britain, Volume II (of 2)|Charles Creighton
If she should do anything so domestic, half Winsted would break out with mumps or chickenpox.
The Wide Awake Girls in Winsted|Katharine Ellis Barrett

In chickenpox preliminary discomfort is absent, or lasts but a few hours before the eruption.
The Home Medical Library, Volume I (of VI)|Various
The eruption appears about the same time in smallpox and not in successive crops, as in chickenpox.
The Home Medical Library, Volume I (of VI)|Various

British Dictionary definitions for chickenpox

chickenpox

/ (ˈtʃɪkɪnˌpɒks) /

noun

a highly communicable viral disease most commonly affecting children, characterized by slight fever and the eruption of a rash

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

Medicine definitions for chickenpox

chickenpox

n.

An acute contagious disease, primarily of children, that is caused by the varicella-zoster virus and characterized by skin eruptions, slight fever, and malaise.varicella

Science definitions for chickenpox

chickenpox

[ chĭk′ən-pŏks′ ]

A highly contagious infectious disease, usually of children, caused by the varicella-zoster virus of the genus Varicellavirus. The infection is characterized by fever, and itching skin blisters that start on the trunk of the body and spread to the extremities. Also called varicella