tuberculous, a.
(tjuːˈbɜːkjʊləs)
[ad. L. type *tūberculōs-us, f. tūbercul-um tubercle: see -ous; cf. F. tuberculeux (1812 in Hatz.-Darm.).]
1. Path. Pertaining to or produced by tubercles; consisting or of the nature of tubercles; affected with tubercles.
| 1747 tr. Astruc's Fevers 129 Though the..tuberculous ulcers may seem to be healed, yet they frequently return. a 1834 R. Carswell Pathol. Anat., Tubercle (1838) a iv b, I have never found these [scrofulous] glands..exempt from the presence of tuberculous matter. 1897 [see tubercular 2]. |
b. Since 1882, almost always used spec. in reference to the tubercle-bacillus or to tuberculosis, and thus technically distinguished from tubercular in the general sense: see tubercular 2, 2 b.
| 1891 Dublin Rev. Jan. 162 The new remedy can only act on living tuberculous tissue. 1897 Allbutt's Syst. Med. II. 17 Guinea-pigs inoculated subcutaneously..by virulent tuberculous material. 1899 Ibid. VII. 466 Tuberculous meningitis is an acute disease depending on the invasion of the cerebral pia mater by the tubercle bacillus. 1903 Times 7 Mar. 15/2 The eating of tuberculous pork. 1913 Ibid. 13 Aug. 3/2 A steady increase in the use of hospitals for the tuberculous sick. |
2. Nat. Hist. Full of or covered with tubercles; tuberculate, tubercular. (Now disused.)
| 1828 Webster, Tubercular, Tuberculous,..full of knobs or pimples. 1833 Penny Cycl. I. 114/2 The three first molars are pointed and trenchant, and the other four tuberculous. 1846 Dana Zooph. (1848) 502 Surface tuberculous, with the tubercles subconical. |