milk sickness


noun Pathology.

a disease of humans, formerly common in some parts of the Middle West, caused by consuming milk from cattle that have been poisoned by eating certain kinds of snakeroot.

Origin of milk sickness

An Americanism dating back to 1815–25

Example sentences from the Web for milk sickness

  • The really successful author in America is, like the milk-sickness, never visible, except on the remote horizon.

    A Fortnight of Folly |Maurice Thompson

British Dictionary definitions for milk sickness

milk sickness

noun

an acute disease characterized by weakness, vomiting, and constipation, caused by ingestion of the flesh or dairy products of cattle affected with trembles
vet science another name for trembles (def. 1)

Medical definitions for milk sickness

milk sickness

n.

An acute, now rare disease characterized by trembling, vomiting, and severe intestinal pain, caused by eating dairy products or meat from a cow that has fed on white snakeroot.