venereal diseases

Cultural  

1. Sexually transmitted diseases; these diseases are named after Venus, the Roman goddess of love.

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Example Sentences

The historian AJP Taylor said cattily that free treatment for venereal diseases was “the only innovation in ‘welfare’ directly attributable to the first world war”.

From The Guardian • Nov. 11, 2018

The boy, a brilliant student, attended schools in Vienna, including Sigmund Freud’s old “gymnasium,” and summered in Sofia, Bulgaria, where his father specialized in treating venereal diseases before penicillin.

From New York Times • Jan. 31, 2015

World War II fervor and the excitement over penicillin, then a scarce, new drug, contributed to the rush to test this promising medicine against venereal diseases that commonly afflicted soldiers.

From New York Times • Sep. 14, 2011

The Romans were among the first to develop a sense of shame in connection with venereal diseases and said as little about them as possible.*

From Time Magazine Archive

Thus, one may catch venereal diseases, smallpox, measles, scarlet fever, chicken pox, mumps, bolls, body lice, ringworm, barber's itch, dhopie itch, and some other diseases.

From Manual for Noncommissioned Officers and Privates of Infantry of the Army of the United States, 1917 To be used by Engineer companies (dismounted) and Coast Artillery companies for Infantry instruction and training by United States War Department