Christmas disease

American

noun

Pathology.

a hereditary disease characterized by an inability of the blood to clot because of a deficiency of a coagulation factor.

Christmas disease British

noun

a relatively mild type of haemophilia, caused by lack of a protein ( Christmas factor ) implicated in the process of blood clotting

"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

Etymology

Origin of Christmas disease

1952; after S. Christmas, the first sufferer from the disease to be examined in detail

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

He then starred at B.U. under Parker, but during his junior season he was diagnosed with a form of hemophilia known as Christmas disease.

From New York Times

He then played at Boston University, but as a junior he suffered bleeding in a leg and learned that he had Christmas disease, a form of hemophilia.

From New York Times

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023