Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Edema. No longer in scientific use.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun In medicine, a morbid accumulation of watery liquid in any cavity of the body or in the tissues. See edema, anasarca., and ascites.
  • noun In botany, a disease in succulent plants caused by an excess of water.
  • noun In fish-culture, a disease of young trout.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun (Med.) An unnatural collection of serous fluid in any serous cavity of the body, or in the subcutaneous cellular tissue.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun pathology Swelling, edema, often from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease COPD.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun swelling from excessive accumulation of watery fluid in cells, tissues, or serous cavities

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[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 okw- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Ultimately from Ancient Greek ὕδρωψ (hudrōps), from ὕδωρ (hudor, "water").

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Examples

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  • She likewise hinted that a certain widow, in the next street, had got rid of her dropsy and recovered her shape in a most surprising manner.

    Sheridan, School for Scandal

    January 6, 2008

  • Often used in connection with congestive heart failure, a generally irreversible ailment.

    April 14, 2008

  • one of the cutest-sounding gruesomenesses (like oozy bubo).

    April 27, 2009