Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun Same as tarantism.

Etymologies

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Examples

  • Among the inhabitants of the town and neighbourhood it was a deeply-rooted belief that if any one was bitten by a tarantula he would be instantly inflicted with a singular disease known as tarantismus, which exhibited itself in two extremes, the one being a profound and silent melancholy and the other a continual convulsive movement of the whole body.

    My Tropic Isle 2003

  • Among the inhabitants of the town and neighbourhood it was a deeply-rooted belief that if any one was bitten by a tarantula he would be instantly inflicted with a singular disease known as tarantismus, which exhibited itself in two extremes, the one being a profound and silent melancholy and the other a continual convulsive movement of the whole body.

    My Tropic Isle 1887

  • Though it is certain that the tarantula of Italy and the spider which robbed Tom of his Sunday are of different species, yet one is struck by the similarity of the toxic effects of the bite with that of the manifestations of the disease of tarantismus.

    My Tropic Isle 2003

  • Though it is certain that the tarantula of Italy and the spider which robbed Tom of his Sunday are of different species, yet one is struck by the similarity of the toxic effects of the bite with that of the manifestations of the disease of tarantismus.

    My Tropic Isle 1887

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  • Tarantism: according to the OED, we got tarantism via modern Latin tarantismus from Italian tarantismo and French tarentisme, and originally 'from It. Taranto, name of the town...; but popularly associated with tarantola the tarantula spider, whence sometimes called tarantulism'.

    September 28, 2008