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elephant man's disease

American

noun

neurofibromatosis.

Etymology

Origin of elephant man's disease

From the name given to Englishman John Merrick (1862 or 63–90), who suffered from an extreme form of the disorder and was exhibited as a freak

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.