Saint Vitus's dance
Americannoun
noun
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
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
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
The humorist wrote back: "Yes, rheumatism and Saint Vitus's dance."
From Toaster's Handbook Jokes, Stories, and Quotations by Fanning, C. E. (Clara Elizabeth)
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
And when the covers were taken off, it was still more absurd—everything in the dishes appeared to be infected with Saint Vitus’s dance.
From Olla Podrida by Marryat, Frederick
They got as much chance with me as a man with Saint Vitus's dance has of landing a trout.
From Just Around the Corner Romance en casserole by Hurst, Fannie
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
