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falling sickness

noun
  1. epilepsy.
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Origin of falling sickness

First recorded in 1520–30
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for falling sickness

Historical Examples of falling sickness

  • Even the roof, not of you be it said, has the falling-sickness—it hangs by a hair.

    Stories and Pictures

    Isaac Loeb Peretz

  • It is good against the Falling-sickness, and giddiness in the head, it cleanseth the Reins and Bladder.

  • He who kisses it is preserved for seven days from falling-sickness, apoplexy, and sudden death.'

  • It was a sickness, I believe, like the falling-sickness that comes to old men; and in time I grew better and dreamed no more.

British Dictionary definitions for falling sickness

falling sickness

falling evil

noun
  1. a former name (nontechnical) for epilepsy
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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