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Cancer definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

CANCER, n.
1. The crab or crab-fish. This genus of animals have generally eight legs, and two claws which serve as hands; two distant eyes, supported by a kind of peduncles, and they are elongated and movable. They have also two clawed palpi, and the tail is jointed. To this genus belong the lobster, shrimp, cray-fish, etc.
2. In astronomy, one of the twelve signs of the zodiac, represented by the form of a crab, and limiting the suns course northward in summer; hence, the sign of the summer solstice.
3. In medicine, a roundish, hard, unequal, scirrous tumor of the glands, which usually ulcerates, is very painful, and generally fatal.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: any malignant growth or tumor caused by abnormal and uncontrolled cell division; it may spread to other parts of the body through the lymphatic system or the blood stream [syn: cancer, malignant neoplastic disease]
2: (astrology) a person who is born while the sun is in Cancer [syn: Cancer, Crab]
3: a small zodiacal constellation in the northern hemisphere; between Leo and Gemini
4: the fourth sign of the zodiac; the sun is in this sign from about June 21 to July 22 [syn: Cancer, Cancer the Crab, Crab]
5: type genus of the family Cancridae [syn: Cancer, genus Cancer]

Merriam Webster's

noun Etymology: Middle English, from Latin (genitive Cancri), literally, crab; akin to Greek karkinos crab, cancer Date: 14th century 1. capitalized a. a northern zodiacal constellation between Gemini and Leo b. (1) the fourth sign of the zodiac in astrology — see zodiac table (2) one born under the sign of Cancer 2. [Latin, crab, cancer] a. a malignant tumor of potentially unlimited growth that expands locally by invasion and systemically by metastasis b. an abnormal bodily state marked by such tumors 3. something evil or malignant that spreads destructively <the cancer of hidden resentment — Irish Digest> 4. a. an enlarged tumorlike plant growth (as that of crown gall) b. a plant disease marked by such growths • cancerous adjective • cancerously adverb

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. 1 a any malignant growth or tumour from an abnormal and uncontrolled division of body cells. b a disease caused by this. 2 an evil influence or corruption spreading uncontrollably. 3 (Cancer) a a constellation, traditionally regarded as contained in the figure of a crab. b the fourth sign of the zodiac (the Crab). c a person born when the sun is in this sign. Phrases and idioms: cancer stick sl. a cigarette. Tropic of Cancer see TROPIC. Derivatives: Cancerian n. & adj. (in sense 3). cancerous adj. Etymology: ME f. L, = crab, cancer, after Gk karkinos

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Sign Sign, n. [F. signe, L. signum; cf. AS. segen, segn, a sign, standard, banner, also fr. L. signum. Cf. Ensign, Resign, Seal a stamp, Signal, Signet.] That by which anything is made known or represented; that which furnishes evidence; a mark; a token; an indication; a proof. Specifically: (a) A remarkable event, considered by the ancients as indicating the will of some deity; a prodigy; an omen. (b) An event considered by the Jews as indicating the divine will, or as manifesting an interposition of the divine power for some special end; a miracle; a wonder. Through mighty signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God. --Rom. xv. 19. It shall come to pass, if they will not believe thee, neither hearken to the voice of the first sign, that they will believe the voice of the latter sign. --Ex. iv. 8. (c) Something serving to indicate the existence, or preserve the memory, of a thing; a token; a memorial; a monument. What time the fire devoured two hundred and fifty men, and they became a sign. --Num. xxvi. 10. (d) Any symbol or emblem which prefigures, typifles, or represents, an idea; a type; hence, sometimes, a picture. The holy symbols, or signs, are not barely significative; but what they represent is as certainly delivered to us as the symbols themselves. --Brerewood. Saint George of Merry England, the sign of victory. --Spenser. (e) A word or a character regarded as the outward manifestation of thought; as, words are the sign of ideas. (f) A motion, an action, or a gesture by which a thought is expressed, or a command or a wish made known. They made signs to his father, how he would have him called. --Luke i. 62. (g) Hence, one of the gestures of pantomime, or of a language of a signs such as those used by the North American Indians, or those used by the deaf and dumb. Note: Educaters of the deaf distinguish between natural signs, which serve for communicating ideas, and methodical, or systematic, signs, adapted for the dictation, or the rendering, of written language, word by word; and thus the signs are to be distinguished from the manual alphabet, by which words are spelled on the fingers. (h) A military emblem carried on a banner or a standard. --Milton. (i) A lettered board, or other conspicuous notice, placed upon or before a building, room, shop, or office to advertise the business there transacted, or the name of the person or firm carrying it on; a publicly displayed token or notice. The shops were, therefore, distinguished by painted signs, which gave a gay and grotesque aspect to the streets. --Macaulay. (j) (Astron.) The twelfth part of the ecliptic or zodiac. Note: The signs are reckoned from the point of intersection of the ecliptic and equator at the vernal equinox, and are named, respectively, Aries ([Aries]), Taurus ([Taurus]), Gemini (II), Cancer ([Cancer]), Leo ([Leo]), Virgo ([Virgo]), Libra ([Libra]), Scorpio ([Scorpio]), Sagittarius ([Sagittarius]), Capricornus ([Capricorn]), {Aquarius ([Aquarius]), Pisces ([Pisces]). These names were originally the names of the constellations occupying severally the divisions of the zodiac, by which they are still retained; but, in consequence of the procession of the equinoxes, the signs have, in process of time, become separated about 30 degrees from these constellations, and each of the latter now lies in the sign next in advance, or to the east of the one which bears its name, as the constellation Aries in the sign Taurus, etc. (k) (Alg.) A character indicating the relation of quantities, or an operation performed upon them; as, the sign + (plus); the sign -- (minus); the sign of division /, and the like. (l) (Med.) An objective evidence of disease; that is, one appreciable by some one other than the patient. Note: The terms symptom and and sign are often used synonymously; but they may be discriminated. A sign differs from a symptom in that the latter is perceived only by the patient himself. The term sign is often further restricted to the purely local evidences of disease afforded by direct examination of the organs involved, as distinguished from those evidence of general disturbance afforded by observation of the temperature, pulse, etc. In this sense it is often called physical sign. (m) (Mus.) Any character, as a flat, sharp, dot, etc. (n) (Theol.) That which, being external, stands for, or signifies, something internal or spiritual; -- a term used in the Church of England in speaking of an ordinance considered with reference to that which it represents. An outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace. --Bk. of Common Prayer. Note: See the Table of Arbitrary Signs, p. 1924. Sign manual. (a) (Eng. Law) The royal signature superscribed at the top of bills of grants and letter patent, which are then sealed with the privy signet or great seal, as the case may be, to complete their validity. (b) The signature of one's name in one's own handwriting. --Craig. Tomlins. Wharton. Syn: Token; mark; note; symptom; indication; signal; symbol; type; omen; prognostic; presage; manifestation. See Emblem.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Cancer Can"cer, n. [L. cancer, cancri, crab, ulcer, a sign of the zodiac; akin to Gr. karki`nos, Skr. karka[.t]a crab, and prob. Skr. karkara hard, the crab being named from its hard shell. Cf. Canner, Chancre.] 1. (Zo["o]l.) A genus of decapod Crustacea, including some of the most common shore crabs of Europe and North America, as the rock crab, Jonah crab, etc. See Crab. 2. (Astron.) (a) The fourth of the twelve signs of the zodiac. The first point is the northern limit of the sun's course in summer; hence, the sign of the summer solstice. See Tropic. (b) A northern constellation between Gemini and Leo. 3. (Med.) Formerly, any malignant growth, esp. one attended with great pain and ulceration, with cachexia and progressive emaciation. It was so called, perhaps, from the great veins which surround it, compared by the ancients to the claws of a crab. The term is now restricted to such a growth made up of aggregations of epithelial cells, either without support or embedded in the meshes of a trabecular framework. Note: Four kinds of cancers are recognized: (1) Epithelial cancer, or Epithelioma, in which there is no trabecular framework. See Epithelioma. (2) Scirrhous cancer, or Hard cancer, in which the framework predominates, and the tumor is of hard consistence and slow growth. (3) Encephaloid, Medullary, or Soft cancer, in which the cellular element predominates, and the tumor is soft, grows rapidy, and often ulcerates. (4) Colloid cancer, in which the cancerous structure becomes gelatinous. The last three varieties are also called carcinoma. Cancer cells, cells once believed to be peculiar to cancers, but now know to be epithelial cells differing in no respect from those found elsewhere in the body, and distinguished only by peculiarity of location and grouping. Cancer root (Bot.), the name of several low plants, mostly parasitic on roots, as the beech drops, the squawroot, etc. Tropic of Cancer. See Tropic.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(cancers) Frequency: The word is one of the 1500 most common words in English. Cancer is a serious disease in which cells in a person's body increase rapidly in an uncontrolled way, producing abnormal growths. Her mother died of breast cancer... Ninety per cent of lung cancers are caused by smoking. N-VAR: oft n N

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(Cancers) 1. Cancer is one of the twelve signs of the zodiac. Its symbol is a crab. People who are born approximately between the 21st of June and the 22nd of July come under this sign. 2. A Cancer is a person whose sign of the zodiac is Cancer. N-COUNT

Moby Thesaurus

benign tumor, blast, blight, callosity, callus, canker, carcinoma, corn, cyst, dry rot, excrescence, fungosity, fungus, growth, intumescence, malignant growth, metastatic tumor, mildew, mold, mole, morbid growth, moth, moth and rust, must, neoplasm, nevus, nonmalignant tumor, outgrowth, pest, proud flesh, rot, rust, sarcoma, smut, tumor, verruca, wart, wen, worm