Saint Vitus's dance

American  

[vahy-tuh-siz] / ˈvaɪ tə sɪz /

Or Saint Vitus' dance

noun

1. St. Vitus's dance.

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Saint Vitus's dance British  

/ ˈvaɪtəsɪz /

noun

1. pathol a nontechnical name for Sydenham's chorea

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Etymology

Origin of Saint Vitus's dance

C17: so called because sufferers traditionally prayed to Saint Vitus (3rd-century child martyr) for relief and were said to be cured by a visit to his shrine

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

Saint Vitus's dance

Don’t come straggling into the office one morning muttering, “First, gout. Now ague, biliousness, lumbago, Saint Vitus’s dance and dropsy. What’s next, apoplexy?”

From Washington Post ● Aug. 16, 2019

“Have you got Saint Vitus’s dance, Amy Drew?”

From The Campfire Girls on Station Island or, The Wireless from the Steam Yacht by Penrose, Margaret

Madame Marsy was bitten by that tarantula whose bite makes modern society move as if afflicted with Saint Vitus's dance.

From His Excellency the Minister by Roberts, Henri

Twitches, choræa, or Saint Vitus's dance, are not very usual, and may continue for months after every other symptom has subsided.

From The Dog by Dinks

She is pale and emaciated; she has Saint Vitus's dance.

From Shallow Soil by Hyllested, Carl Christian