milk sickness

American  

[milk sik-nis] / ˈmɪlk ˌsɪk nɪs /

noun

Pathology.

1. a disease of humans, formerly common in some parts of the Midwestern and Southern United States, caused by consuming milk from cattle that have been poisoned by eating certain kinds of snakeroot.

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milk sickness British  

noun

1. an acute disease characterized by weakness, vomiting, and constipation, caused by ingestion of the flesh or dairy products of cattle affected with trembles

2. vet science another name for trembles

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Etymology

Origin of milk sickness

An Americanism first recorded in 1815–25

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

milk sickness

The milk sickness has been here again and has carried off the cattle, and the people have become discouraged, and look upon the place as unhealthy.

From In The Boyhood of Lincoln A Tale of the Tunker Schoolmaster and the Times of Black Hawk by Hezekiah Butterworth

Jim was for going out for burdock leaves at once, for me, but the horse doctor told him I didn't have no milk sickness.

From How Private George W. Peck Put Down The Rebellion or, The Funny Experiences of a Raw Recruit - 1887 by George W. (George Wilbur) Peck

Dr. Graff made numerous experiments on dogs with the flesh, &c., of animals having died of milk sickness.

From The American Reformed Cattle Doctor by George Dadd

In addition, the milk sickness was a sort of an epidemic disease in those parts.

From Boys' and Girls' Biography of Abraham Lincoln by James H. Shaw

It is responsible for most, if not all, of the cases of a disease which is commonly known as "milk sickness."

From Special Report on Diseases of Cattle by United States. Bureau of Animal Industry

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