dropsy
Americannoun
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(formerly) edema.
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an infectious disease of fishes, characterized by a swollen, spongelike body and protruding scales, caused by a variety of the bacterium Pseudomonas punctata.
noun
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pathol a condition characterized by an accumulation of watery fluid in the tissues or in a body cavity
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slang a tip or bribe
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of dropsy
1250–1300; Middle English drop ( e ) sie, aphetic variant of ydropesie < Old French < Medieval Latin ( h ) ydrōpisīa, equivalent to Latin hydrōpis ( is ) (< Greek hydrōpi-, stem of hýdrōps dropsy ( hydr- hydr- 1 + -ōpsi- < ?) + -sis -sis ) + -ia -y 3
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.
Just like the dropsy testimony a few decades earlier, these stories of “plain view” and “suspicious bulges” became scripts that many police officers stuck to.
From New York Times ● Mar. 18, 2018
He also wanted to know if it was safe to inoculate newborn infants or a person already suffering from dropsy, yaws or fever and the like.
From Salon ● Aug. 21, 2017
Isabella, too, suffered from recurrent fevers, and died of dropsy, a general swelling of the body.
From Scientific American ● Nov. 19, 2012
Then from the 3rd century B.C. it was also used for digestive troubles, tetanus and possibly dropsy.
From Slate ● Mar. 4, 2012
So I whispered into my desk, “Strange stuff, the dropsy drown you”—which was cheating a little, because I put two together.
From "The Wednesday Wars" by Gary D. Schmidt
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
