drop·sy

(drŏp′sē)

Edema. No longer in scientific use.

[Middle English dropesie, short for idropesie, from Old French ydropisie, from Medieval Latin ydrōpisia, from Latin hydrōpisis, from Greek hudrōpiāsis, from hudrōps, dropsy, a dropsical person : hudro-, water; see hydro- + ōps, face; see ok^w- in Indo-European roots.]

drop′si·cal (-sĭ-kəl) adj.

drop′si·cal·ly adv.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

dropsy

(ˈdrɒpsɪ)

1. (Pathology) pathol a condition characterized by an accumulation of watery fluid in the tissues or in a body cavity

2. slang a tip or bribe

[C13: shortened from ydropesie, from Latin hydrōpisis, from Greek hudrōps, from hudōr water]

dropsical, ˈdropsied adj

ˈdropsically adv

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

drop•sy

(ˈdrɒp si)

n.

(formerly) edema.

[1250–1300; < Old French < Medieval Latin (h)ydrōpisia, ultimately < Greek hydrōpíāsis, derivative of hýdrōps edema]

drop′si•cal (-sɪ kəl) adj.

drop′si•cal•ly, adv.

drop′sied, adj.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun

dropsy - swelling from excessive accumulation of watery fluid in cells, tissues, or serous cavities

edema, hydrops, oedema

angioedema, atrophedema, giant hives, periodic edema, Quincke's edema - recurrent large circumscribed areas of subcutaneous edema; onset is sudden and it disappears within 24 hours; seen mainly in young women, often as an allergic reaction to food or drugs

lymphedema - swelling (usually in the legs) caused by lymph accumulating in the tissues in the affected areas

scleredema - a skin disease marked by hard edema of the tissue usually beginning in the face

cystoid macular edema - a specific pattern of swelling in the central retina

puffiness, swelling, lump - an abnormal protuberance or localized enlargement

anasarca - generalized edema with accumulation of serum in subcutaneous connective tissue

chemosis - edema of the mucous membrane of the eyeball and eyelid lining

papilledema - swelling of the optic disc (where the optic nerve enters the eyeball); usually associated with an increase in intraocular pressure

brain edema, cerebral edema - swelling of the brain due to the uptake of water in the neuropile and white matter

Translations

idropisia

hidropisia

dropsy

[ˈdrɒpsɪ] N → hidropesía f

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

dropsy

n → Wassersucht f

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

drop·sy

n. hidropesía, acumulación excesiva de fluido seroso en una cavidad o tejido celular.

English-Spanish Medical Dictionary © Farlex 2012

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

Pullet, sighing and shaking her head; "and there isn't another such a dropsy in the parish.

View in context

It ill becomes me to prate too much of what I have endured for the faith, and yet, since you have observed it, I must tell you that this thickness and roundness of the waist is caused by a dropsy brought on by over-haste in journeying from the house of Pilate to the Mount of Olives."

View in context

But as young dropsy evinced no symptoms of returning animation, Sam Weller sat himself down in front of the cart, and starting the old horse with a jerk of the rein, jogged steadily on, towards the Manor Farm.

View in context

One day, taking a pair of shoes to be mended, he saw the cobbler's wife seated by the fire, suffering from the terrible symptoms of heart-disease and dropsy, which he had witnessed as the precursors of his mother's death.

View in context

She is no reaper that sleeps out the noontide; at all times she is reaping and cutting down, as well the dry grass as the green; she never seems to chew, but bolts and swallows all that is put before her, for she has a canine appetite that is never satisfied; and though she has no belly, she shows she has a dropsy and is athirst to drink the lives of all that live, as one would drink a jug of cold water."

View in context

“I wonder, Benjamin, that you did not die with a dropsy!” said Marmaduke.

View in context

He had concealed a dropsy from infancy, he had inherited a large estate of water on the chest from his grandfather, he had had an operation performed upon him every morning of his life for eighteen years, he had been subject to the explosion of important veins in his body after the manner of fireworks, he had had something the matter with his lungs, he had had something the matter with his heart, he had had something the matter with his brain.

View in context

'I have drank Gunga-water to the edge of dropsy. All she gave me was a flux, and no sort of strength.'

View in context

In it was a good-natured-looking old woman with a dropsy, or an asthma, or perhaps both.

View in context

Beside him, a man with the dropsy was getting rid of his swelling, and making four or five female thieves, who were disputing at the same table, over a child who had been stolen that evening, hold their noses.

View in context

He was a widower, and had no relations left, excepting the prince's aunt, a poor woman living on charity, who was herself at the point of death from dropsy; but who had time, before she died, to set Salaskin to work to find her nephew, and to make her will bequeathing her newly-acquired fortune to him.

View in context

"Bad, very bad; why don't you say, 'Death carries on its ravages amongst the few surviving defenders of the monarchy and the old and faithful servants of the King, whose heart bleeds under these reiterated blows?'" [Du Bruel writes rapidly.] "'Monsieur le Baron Flamet de la Billardiere died this morning of dropsy, caused by heart disease.' You see, it is just as well to show there are hearts in government offices; and you ought to slip in a little flummery about the emotions of the Royalists during the Terror,--might be useful, hey!

View in context