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whitlow

American

[hwit-loh, wit-] / ˈʰwɪt loʊ, ˈwɪt- /

noun

an inflammation of the deeper tissues of a finger or toe, especially of the terminal phalanx, usually producing suppuration.

whitlow British

/ ˈwɪtləʊ /

noun

any pussy inflammation of the end of a finger or toe

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of whitlow

1350–1400; Middle English whit ( f ) lowe, whitflawe. See white, flaw ¹

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.

See Examples For:

whitlow

He says it is possible the surgeon may have had a herpetic whitlow - a herpes infection on the finger - which could have "directly seeded the herpes into the abdomen of the women".

From BBC ● Nov. 22, 2021

According to the NHS website, the symptoms of a whitlow can vary from a small bump to open lesions - meaning they can go undetected.

From BBC ● Nov. 22, 2021

For some days Ninnis had been enduring the throbbing pain of a whitlow and had not been having sufficient sleep.

From The Home of the Blizzard Being the Story of the Australasian Antarctic Expedition, 1911-1914 by Sir Douglas Mawson

She has a whitlow, and it's time to lance it.

From Jo's Boys by Louisa May Alcott

Purulent solutions of continuity; as ulcer, cancer, caries, fistula, whitlow.

From Lives of Eminent Zoologists, from Aristotle to Linnæus with Introductory remarks on the Study of Natural History by William MacGillivray

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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023