trench foot

noun

Pathology.

1. injury of the skin, blood vessels, and nerves of the feet due to prolonged exposure to cold and wet, common among soldiers serving in trenches.

trench foot

noun

1. a form of frostbite affecting the feet of persons standing for long periods in cold water

Word History and Origins

Origin of trench foot¹

First recorded in 1910–15

Example Sentences

One week into the alt tour, he had gone from nursing blisters to fending off trench foot.

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The 29-year-old was suffering from the onset of trench foot and was in excruciating pain when he completed the Scottish National Trail, with his blistered feet having swollen up by a shoe size.

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His wet feet swelled as the trench foot that would trouble him for the rest of his life set in.

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Fritz Bixler, an outreach coordinator who served on the clinic’s Street Medicine Team, has seen trench foot, gout and broken bones in people who’d been hit by cars and gone untreated.

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Soldiers devoted most of their time to constructing and repairing the trenches, cleaning their weapons, transferring food and supplies, and attempting to mitigate rats, lice and ailments such as cholera and trench foot.

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