milk sickness

noun

1

: an acute disease characterized by weakness, vomiting, and constipation and caused by eating dairy products or meat from cattle poisoned by various plants

2

: tremble sense 2

Examples of milk sickness in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

In 1965, when the journal Economic Botany compiled a literature review of milk sickness, including period accounts, newspaper articles and academic journals, the authors noted that milk sickness was rarely mentioned even in later 19th-century American medical textbooks. —Will McCarthy, Smithsonian Magazine, 20 June 2023

In DuBois County, the majority of recorded deaths in the early 1800s came from milk sickness. —Will McCarthy, Smithsonian Magazine, 20 June 2023

Word History

First Known Use

1823, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Medical Definition

milk sickness

noun

: an acute disease characterized by weakness, vomiting, and constipation and caused by eating dairy products or meat from cattle affected with trembles