mumps

American  

[muhmps] / mʌmps /

noun

(used with a singular verb)

1. an infectious disease characterized by inflammatory swelling of the parotid and usually other salivary glands, and sometimes by inflammation of the testes or ovaries, caused by a paramyxovirus.

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mumps British  

/ mʌmps /

noun

1. Also called: epidemic parotitis.  (functioning as singular or plural) an acute contagious viral disease of the parotid salivary glands, characterized by swelling of the affected parts, fever, and pain beneath the ear: usually affects children

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mumps Scientific  

/ mŭmps /

1. An infectious disease caused by a virus of the family Paramyxoviridae and the genus Rubulavirus, characterized by swelling of the salivary glands, especially the parotid glands, and sometimes of the pancreas, testes, or ovaries. Vaccinations, usually given in early childhood, confer immunity to mumps.

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mumps Cultural  

1. An acute and contagious disease marked by fever and inflammation of the salivary glands. Caused by a virus, mumps is normally a childhood disease that passes with no aftereffects.

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Discover More

A child who has had mumps is immune from further infection by the mumps virus.

Other Word Forms

• mumpish adjective

Etymology

Origin of mumps

First recorded in 1590–1600; mump ¹ + -s ³

Example Sentences

This Red Cross nursing business had popped up about a year back when I had had the mumps and Daisy had read me a story about a Red Cross nurse.

From Literature

As if these had not been enough, diphtheria, malaria, mumps, pertussis, plague, tuberculosis, and yellow fever came up close behind.

From Literature

His concern focused on a series of illnesses that had struck his patients throughout the year—the mumps in January, jaw and mouth infections in February, scarlet fever in March, followed by influenza in July.

From Literature

When one cousin caught the measles or mumps, we were all quarantined together so as to get that childhood illness over and done with.

From Literature

Ebola is dis-^fr tantly related to measles, mumps, and rabies.

From Literature