Definitions
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun obsolete, used in historical fiction A particular
ailment unknown to, and uncurable by, medical science
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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Man, how I remember those days - putting leeches on saddlesores to bring the swelling down, and suffering with terrible marthambles from the pickle juice in my bidon.
The Future is Meh, the Apocalypse is Nigh: Tempting Fate BikeSnobNYC 2009
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Our mommas always told us these things were evil (and now our wives do as well), because the candy is not hermetically/cryogenically/hygienically sealed and will no doubt give us rickets, scurvy, the marthambles, lockjaw and the blind staggers if we eat it.
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All of this seems to confirm that a mountebank named Tuft, circa 1700, was indeed claiming to have discovered some new diseases that included the marthambles, the moon pall, and the strong fives.
Language Log 2009
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Pending further information, I'm inclined to believe that that Copeman 1960's inclusion of marthambles to Tudor medical terminology was a mistake, perhaps in turn responsible for Dorothy Dunnett's use in
Language Log 2009
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Patrick O'Brian also refers to the marthambles, the strong fives and the moon pall on page 30 of his book
Language Log 2009
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Both Tuft's advertisement and Thompson's discussion assert that as of that time, "the marthambles" had NOT been a commonly-used term for more than a century.
Language Log 2009
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(page 100), the marthambles is one of several nonexistent diseases invented by a Dr. Tufts in a pamphlet in order to sell his tonics and medicines.
Language Log 2009
chained_bear commented on the word marthambles
"The people were used to his ways, and he was welcome whenever he came; he had cured Mrs Broad, the landlady and an excellent plain cook, of the marthambles, and the boots of a less creditable disease; he could do much as he pleased at the Grapes..." -- Patrick O'Brian, The Surgeon's Mate, 168
February 7, 2008
chained_bear commented on the word marthambles
"...a member of the afterguard, whose complaint was known as the marthambles at sea and griping of the guts by land, a disease whose cause Stephen did not know and whose symptoms he could only render more nearly bearable by opiates: he could not cure it. 'He will go in an hour or so, I believe,' said Macmillan..."
--Patrick O'Brian, The Nutmeg of Consolation, 152
March 6, 2008
kwebb commented on the word marthambles
This word is used in Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey-Maturin novels as a name of an ailment, the name being used by sailors rather than medical practitioners. O'Brian says that he found it in a 17th century quack's pamphlet.
June 19, 2009
qms commented on the word marthambles
Compare lurgy.
November 26, 2016