tabes
Americannoun
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a wasting of a bodily organ or part
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short for tabes dorsalis
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of tabes
1645–55; < Latin tābēs wasting, decay, akin to tābēre to waste away
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.
They were held in durance only by the tabus and superstitions of their polytheistic religion, which they renounced in 1819 after the death of their great King Kamehameha I. Traders and whalers followed Cook.
From Time Magazine Archive
For six months Margaret Mead and her husband lived among the Manus, learnt their language, their tabus, took photographs, asked questions, saw as much as they were allowed.
From Time Magazine Archive
On approaching the volcano, she met the priestess of Pele, who warned her not to go near the crater and predicted her death if she violated the tabus of the goddess.
From Complete Story of the San Francisco Horror by Linthicum, Richard
This was the last heiau destroyed when the ancient tabus and ceremonial rites were overthrown by the chiefs just before the coming of Christian missionaries.
From Legends of Gods and Ghosts (Hawaiian Mythology) Collected and Translated from the Hawaiian by Westervelt, W. D. (William Drake)
They learn also the prohibitions and tabus by being constantly checked; a sharp word generally suffices to secure obedience.
From The Pagan Tribes of Borneo by Haddon, Alfred C. (Alfred Cort)
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.
