Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A cancer or gangrene; an old sore.

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

  • noun obsolete A bad sore; a gangrene; a cancer.

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

  • noun obsolete A bad sore; a gangrene or cancer.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

French mort-mal a deadly evil.

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Examples

  • The most familiar reference to "mormal" I know of is in Chaucer's General Prologue, where he describes first the Cook, and then the Cook's "mormal," with an implication that it is an open running sore:

    languagehat.com: OLD DISEASE NAMES. 2004

  • Off topic as they say i saw this coming 6 years ago, .. but there was nothing to indicate it through mormal channels in the secrities business.

    A Few More Words About Politics and Targets 2008

  • May 26th, 2007 im in ur kicchen scratchin my mormal

    May 26th, 2007 chaucerhatblog 2007

  • No; a mormal - as suffered by Chaucer's Cook - was a localised ulcer, maybe gangrenous but not "gangrene" in the general sense.

    Old disease names - but mostly not Ray Girvan 2004

  • (See Webster's 1913 dictionary: mormal = "a bad sore; a gangrene; a cancer").

    Old disease names - but mostly not Ray Girvan 2004

  • No; a mormal - as suffered by Chaucer's Cook - was a localised ulcer, maybe gangrenous but not "gangrene" in the general sense.

    Archive 2004-04-01 Ray Girvan 2004

  • (See Webster's 1913 dictionary: mormal = "a bad sore; a gangrene; a cancer").

    Archive 2004-04-01 Ray Girvan 2004

  • I note that the OED describes a mormal as a sore: 1.

    languagehat.com: OLD DISEASE NAMES. 2004

  • On mormal--gangrene just doesn't seem to fit to me.

    languagehat.com: OLD DISEASE NAMES. 2004

  • I admit to taking a particular delight in pointing out to students that there's a direct connection between the mormal, and the appearance of blancemanger, a white gelatanous pudding .

    languagehat.com: OLD DISEASE NAMES. 2004

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