▪ I. nosology
(nəˈsɒlədʒɪ)
[ad. mod.L. nosologia (so Sp. and It.; F. nosologie), a. Gr. type *νοσολογία: see noso- and -logy.]
1. A classification or arrangement of diseases.
| 1721 Bailey, Nosology,..a Treatise concerning Diseases. 1777–84 Cullen First Lines Physic (1808) Introd. §2 To establish a Methodical Nosology, or an arrangement of diseases according to their genera and species. 1804 Abernethy Surg. Obs. 5 In Dr. Cullen's Nosology we find diseases of arteries, veins, glands, &c., brought together under one order. 1857 T. Watson Lect. Phys. (ed. 4) 12 That phantom—a perfect methodical nosology. 1860 Tanner Pregnancy i. 7 Such an expression should hardly have a place in any scientific nosology. |
| transf. 1785 Reid Intell. Powers vi. viii. 652 It were to be wished that we had also a nosology of the human understanding. |
b. A collection or combination of diseases.
| 1823 De Quincey Lett. on Self-Educ. (1860) 139 A sentence..liable to a whole nosology of malconformations. 1851 Carlyle Sterling i. i, All this fatal nosology of spiritual maladies, so rife in our day. |
c. The list or catalogue of known diseases.
| 1839 Carlyle Chartism ix, There is no disease in the Nosology but he can trace in himself some symptoms of it. 1899 Times 25 Aug. 8/2 [Plague] is one of the easiest of the great epidemic diseases to combat in our whole nosology. |
2. Systematic or scientific classification or investigation of diseases; that branch of medical science which deals with this.
| 1727–38 Chambers Cycl. s.v. Medicine, The second branch considers the diseases of the human body, their differences, causes, and effects; and is called..nosology, when it examines their differences. 1799 Med. Jrnl. I. 42 There is little hope of seeing a theory of medicine, or a System of Nosology established, which..will..stand the test of ages. 1827 Lancet 17 Nov. 252/2 Nosology is of course frequently taught without therapeutics. 1881 G. Macdonald M. Marston III. xiv. 256 Nosology is a science doomed, thank God, to perish. Health alone will at last fill the earth. |
| transf. 1849 Sir J. Stephen Eccl. Biog. (1850) I. 345 Phenomena in the science of mental nosology. Ibid. II. 406 Ecclesiastical Nosology, or the Morbid Anatomy of the Church. |
3. The special character of a particular disease, or the views current with regard to this.
| 1825 Sporting Mag. XVI. 355 A satisfactory conclusion is, to agree on the nosology of the disease. 1876 Trans. Clinical Soc. IX. 91 With a reference to the divided state of the nosology of leuchæmia. |
▪ II. nosology
var. noseology.