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glanders

[glan-derz]
noun (used with a singular verb) Veterinary Pathology.
  1. a contagious disease chiefly of horses and mules but communicable to humans, caused by the bacterium Pseudomonas mallei and characterized by swellings beneath the jaw and a profuse mucous discharge from the nostrils.
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Compare farcy.

Origin of glanders

1475–85; < Middle French glandres swollen glands < Latin glandulae swollen glands, literally, little acorns. See gland1, -ule
Related formsglan·der·ous, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for glanders

Historical Examples

  • He insisted that I had typhoid fever, and glanders, and cholera.

    How Private George W. Peck Put Down The Rebellion

    George W. Peck

  • They seemed to have the pip, or glanders, or boll-weevil, or something unpleasant.

    Perkins of Portland

    Ellis Parker Butler

  • Up to 1812 the communication of glanders to man failed to be recognized.

  • Youatt says, there is not a disease which may not lay the foundation for glanders.

    Domestic Animals

    Richard L. Allen

  • Horses found to be affected with glanders within six months of entry are slaughtered without compensation.

British Dictionary definitions for glanders

glanders

noun
  1. (functioning as singular) a highly infectious bacterial disease of horses, sometimes transmitted to man, caused by Actinobacillus mallei and characterized by inflammation and ulceration of the mucous membranes of the air passages, skin, and lymph glands
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Derived Formsglandered, adjectiveglanderous, adjective

Word Origin

C16: from Old French glandres enlarged glands, from Latin glandulae, literally: little acorns, from glāns acorn; see gland 1
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

Word Origin and History for glanders

n.

"horse disease characterized by glandular swelling," early 15c., from Old French glandres "swollen glands," plural of glandre, from Latin glandula (see gland).

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper