Adjacent Words

Whitlow definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

WHITLOW, n.
1. In surgery, paronychia, a swelling or inflammation about the nails or ends of the fingers, or affecting one or more of the phalanges of the fingers, generally terminating in an abscess. There are four or five varieties of this swelling. 1. The cutaneous paronychia, which raises the cuticle, forming a kind of vesicle filled with a limpid serum, or bloody fluid. 2. The subcutaneous paronychia, a tumor attended with acute pain. It is seated in the cellular membrane under the skin. 3. The subungual paronychia, which occurs under the nail. It commences with inflammatory symptoms, but is less painful than the former. 4. There is also the paronychia of the periosteum, and the paronychia of the tendons or theca.
2. In sheep, the whitlow is a disease of the feet, of an inflammatory kind. It occurs round the hoof, where an acrid matter is collected, which ought to be discharged.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: a purulent infection at the end of a finger or toe in the area surrounding the nail [syn: felon, whitlow]

Merriam Webster's

noun Etymology: Middle English whitflawe, whitflowe, whitlowe Date: 14th century a deep usually suppurative inflammation of the finger or toe especially near the end or around the nail — called also felon

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. an inflammation near a fingernail or toenail. Etymology: ME whitflaw, -flow, app. = WHITE + FLAW(1) in the sense 'crack', but perh. of LG orig.: cf. Du. fijt, LG fit whitlow

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Whitlow Whit"low, n. [Prov. E. whickflaw, for quickflaw, i. e., a flaw or sore at the quick; cf. Icel. kvika the quick under the nail or under a horse's hoof. See Quick, a., and Flaw.] 1. (Med.) An inflammation of the fingers or toes, generally of the last phalanx, terminating usually in suppuration. The inflammation may occupy any seat between the skin and the bone, but is usually applied to a felon or inflammation of the periosteal structures of the bone. 2. (Far.) An inflammatory disease of the feet. It occurs round the hoof, where an acrid matter is collected. Whitlow grass (Bot.), name given to several inconspicuous herbs, which were thought to be a cure for the whitlow, as Saxifraga tridactylites, Draba verna, and several species of Paronychia.

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

n. (Med.) Felon.