Adjacent Words

shingles definitions

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WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: eruptions along a nerve path often accompanied by severe neuralgia [syn: herpes zoster, zoster, shingles]

Merriam Webster's

noun plural but singular in construction Etymology: Middle English schingles, by folk etymology from Medieval Latin cingulus, from Latin cingulum girdle — more at cingulum Date: 14th century an acute viral inflammation of the sensory ganglia of spinal and cranial nerves that is associated with a vesicular eruption and neuralgic pains and is caused by reactivation of the herpesvirus causing chicken pox — called also herpes zoster, zoster

Britannica Concise

Acute viral skin and nerve infection. Groups of small blisters appear along certain nerve segments, most often on the back, sometimes after a dull ache at the site; pain becomes more severe when the blisters break out. Caused by the same virus as chicken pox, it probably results from reactivation of seemingly inactive virus in a partially immune person. Spontaneous recovery from the infection usually occurs within two weeks, but neuralgia may last months or even years longer.

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n.pl. (usu. treated as sing.) an acute painful viral inflammation of the nerve ganglia, with a skin eruption often forming a girdle around the middle of the body. Etymology: ME f. med.L cingulus f. L cingulum girdle f. cingere gird

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Lap Lap, v. t. [OE. lappen to fold (see Lap, n.); cf. also OE. wlappen, perh. another form of wrappen, E, wrap.] 1. To fold; to bend and lay over or on something; as, to lap a piece of cloth. 2. To wrap or wind around something. About the paper . . . I lapped several times a slender thread of very black silk. --Sir I. Newton. 3. To infold; to hold as in one's lap; to cherish. Her garment spreads, and laps him in the folds. --Dryden. 4. To lay or place over anything so as to partly or wholly cover it; as, to lap one shingle over another; to lay together one partly over another; as, to lap weather-boards; also, to be partly over, or by the side of (something); as, the hinder boat lapped the foremost one. 5. (Carding & Spinning) To lay together one over another, as fleeces or slivers for further working. To lap boards, shingles, etc., to lay one partly over another. To lap timbers, to unite them in such a way as to preserve the same breadth and depth throughout, as by scarfing. --Weale.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Shingles Shin"gles, n. [OF. cengle a girth, F. sangle, fr. L. cingulum a girdle, fr. cingere to gird. Cf. Cincture, Cingle, Surcingle.] (Med.) A kind of herpes (Herpes zoster) which spreads half way around the body like a girdle, and is usually attended with violent neuralgic pain.

Moby Thesaurus

African lethargy, Asiatic cholera, Chagres fever, German measles, Haverhill fever, MS, acne, acne vulgaris, acute articular rheumatism, ague, alkali disease, amebiasis, amebic dysentery, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, anthrax, bacillary dysentery, bastard measles, black death, black fever, blackwater fever, brain disease, breakbone fever, brucellosis, bubonic plague, cachectic fever, cephalalgia, cerebral palsy, cerebral rheumatism, chicken pox, cholera, chorea, cowpox, dandy fever, deer fly fever, dengue, dengue fever, dermamycosis, dermatitis, dermatosis, diphtheria, dumdum fever, dysentery, eczema, elephantiasis, emotional disorder, encephalitis lethargica, enteric fever, epilepsy, epithelioma, erysipelas, erythema, exanthem, falling sickness, famine fever, five-day fever, flu, frambesia, glandular fever, glossopharyngeal neuralgia, grippe, hansenosis, headache, heat rash, hepatitis, herpes, herpes simplex, herpes zoster, histoplasmosis, hives, hookworm, hydrophobia, impetigo, infantile paralysis, infectious mononucleosis, inflammatory rheumatism, influenza, ischialgia, itch, jail fever, jungle rot, kala azar, kissing disease, lepra, leprosy, leptospirosis, lichen, lichen primus, loa loa, loaiasis, lockjaw, lupus, lupus vulgaris, madness, malaria, malarial fever, marsh fever, measles, meningitis, migraine, miliaria, milzbrand, multiple sclerosis, mumps, nervous disorder, neuralgia, neuritis, neuropathy, organic psychosis, ornithosis, osteomyelitis, palsy, paratyphoid fever, parotitis, parrot fever, pemphigus, pertussis, pneumonia, polio, poliomyelitis, polyarthritis rheumatism, polyneuritis, ponos, pressure neuropathy, priapism, prickly heat, pruigo, pruritus, psittacosis, psora, rabbit fever, rabies, radiculitis, rat-bite fever, relapsing fever, rheumatic fever, rickettsialpox, ringworm, rubella, rubeola, scabies, scarlatina, scarlet fever, schistosomiasis, sciatic neuritis, sciatica, septic sore throat, shaking palsy, skin cancer, sleeping sickness, sleepy sickness, smallpox, snail fever, spastic paralysis, splenic fever, spotted fever, strep throat, swamp fever, tetanus, tetter, the jerks, thrush, tic douloureux, tinea, toxic psychosis, trench fever, trench mouth, tuberculosis, tularemia, typhoid, typhoid fever, typhus, typhus fever, undulant fever, vaccinia, varicella, variola, venereal disease, viral dysentery, whooping cough, yaws, yellow fever, yellow jack, zona, zoster