▪ I. disease, n.
(dɪˈziːz)
Forms: 4 deses, deisese, disseease, dishese, 4–5 disese, -sese, desese, dysese, 5 disess, -cese, -ees(e, -seese, -easse, desesse, -eas, -eyce, dyses, -esse, -hese, -sese, -ase, -easse, -eze, -zese, -eysse, 5–6 dysease, -sease, Sc. diseis, 6 desease, disseyse, dysseasse, Sc. dises, 5– disease.
[ME. di-, desese, a. AF. disease, desaese (Stat. Rich. II), OF. desaise, -ayse (14th c. in Godef.), f. des-, dis- 4 + aise ease n.]
1. a. Absence of ease; uneasiness, discomfort; inconvenience, annoyance; disquiet, disturbance; trouble. (For long Obs. but revived in modern use with the spelling dis-ease.)
In later use, generally with distinct reference to the etym. elements of the word: cf. disease v. 1.
| c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. (1810) 166 Go and mak his pes, or he do þe more stoure, And þou to þi deses may haf þe frute and floure. 1388 Wyclif John xvi. 33 In the world ȝe schulen haue disese. c 1410 Love Bonavent. Mirr. xxvii, His disciples were in the see in grete disese. c 1450 Merlin 54 Thei shull haue grete dissese for lakke of water. a 1547 Surrey in Tottell's Misc. (Arb.) 22 Till thou know my hole disseyse my hart can haue no rest. 1615 Chapman Odyss. iv. 1088 Doth sleep thus seize Thy powers, affected with so much dis-ease? 1623 Lisle ælfric on O. & N. Test. Ded. xxiii, Some grudge of old disease, Which will enforce us fortifie our townes. |
| 1909 Daily Chron. 17 May 3/1 Perhaps he..kept dark the apprehensions of his artist soul, communicated his ease not his dis-ease. 1922 A. S. M. Hutchinson This Freedom ii. x. 166 They were in a curious dis-ease whose occasion was not to be defined. 1925 ― One Increasing Purpose iii. xiv, She had a curious dis-ease in meeting socially doctors whom also she met professionally. 1960 Encounter Mar. 78/1 The fear and dis-ease which underlie the more obvious nostalgia. |
† b. A cause of discomfort or distress; a trouble, an annoyance, a grievance. Obs.
| c 1386 Chaucer Nun's Pr. Prol. 5 It is a greet disese, Where as men han been in greet welthe and ese, To heeren of hire sodeyn fal. 1443 Paston Lett. No. 36 I. 49 Sende me a letter as hastely as ȝe may, yf wrytyn be non dysesse to yow. a 1667 Jer. Taylor Serm. xxv. §5 Wks. 1847–54 IV. 641 The disemployed is a disease, and like a long sleepless night to himself, and a load to his country. 1712 Prideaux Direct. Ch.-wardens (ed. 4) 59 [It] is only for their own ease, and that must not be made a dis-ease to the rest of the Parish. |
† c. Molestation. to do disease to, to molest.
| c 1400 Mandeville (Roxb.) xxi. 98 Nedders and oþer venymous bestez of þat cuntree duse na diseese to na straungers ne pilgrimes. c 1440 Gesta Rom. ii. xxvi. (1838) 353 The Emperour comaundede, that no man shulde dispoile the ymages..ne to hem do no disease. 1493 Festivall (W. de W. 1515) 71 To praye for his enemys and them that..dyde him dysease. |
2. A condition of the body, or of some part or organ of the body, in which its functions are disturbed or deranged; a morbid physical condition; ‘a departure from the state of health, especially when caused by structural change’ (Syd. Soc. Lex.). Also applied to a disordered condition in plants.
(A gradual restriction of sense 1, in early use only contextual: cf. the similar use of ‘trouble’ in dialects.)
a. gen. The condition of being (more or less seriously) out of health; illness, sickness.
| 1393 Gower Conf. III. 35 He was full of such disese, That he may nought the deth escape. a 1400–50 Alexander 2549 He was fallen in a feuire..Þai..said ilkane to othire: Be þis disese to ser Darie and his dukis knawen, He sall vs..surely encounbre. 1555 Eden Decades Pref. to Rdr. (Arb.) 53 Least thy disease become vncurable. 1727–46 Thomson Summer 1035 The dire power of pestilent disease. 1788 Gibbon Decl. & F. 1. (1846) V. 10 The legions of Augustus melted away in disease and lassitude. 1875 H. C. Wood Therap. (1879) 21 Disease often fortifies the system against the action of remedies. 1879 E. Garrett House by Works II. 42 Suppressing disease instead of curing it. |
b. An individual case or instance of such a condition; an illness, ailment, malady, disorder.
| 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 38 Cured many diseases or sycknesses. 1552 Latimer Serm. & Rem. (1845) II. 67 [The burial ground being within the city] be the occasion of much sickness and diseases. 1602 Shakes. Ham. iv. iii. 9 Diseases, desperate growne, By desperate appliance are releeued. 1671 Milton Samson 618 My griefs..pain me As a lingering disease. 1765 A. Dickson Treat. Agric. viii. (ed. 2) 83 The diseases of plants we may possibly do something to prevent, but we can do little to remove. 1847 Emerson Repr. Men, Montaigne Wks. (Bohn) I. 343 To entertain you with the records of his disease. |
c. Any one of the various kinds of such conditions; a species of disorder or ailment, exhibiting special symptoms or affecting a special organ.
Often with defining words, indicating its nature, or derived from the name of a person who has suffered from it, or of the physician who first diagnosed it: e.g. Addison's disease, a structural disease of the suprarenal capsules, resulting in anæmia and loss of strength, and commonly characterized by a brownish-olive discoloration of the skin (see bronzed 4); first described by Thomas Addison (1793–1860). bad disease, foul disease, names for syphilis (Syd. Soc. Lex.). blue disease, Bright's disease, fish-skin disease, foot-and-mouth disease, French disease, potato disease, etc.: see these words.
| 1460–70 Bk. Quintessence 18 Oure quinte essence auri et perelarum heelith þese disesis. 1555 Eden Decades 230 The disease of saynt Iob whiche wee caule the frenche poxe. 1651 Hobbes Leviath. ii. xxix. 173 A Disease, which resembleth the Pleurisie. 1725 N. St. André in Lond. Gaz. No. 6349/1 The..Woman had the Foul Disease. 1727–51 Chambers Cycl., Diseases of plants..Mildew, a kind of epidemical disease. 1799 Med. Jrnl. II. 183 The diseases of human teeth and bones. 1836 Penny Cycl. VI. 93/2 Cabbages are subject to a peculiar disease..called clubbing. 1885 Law Times LXXIX. 161/2 The mare was suffering from no catching disease. |
3. fig. A deranged, depraved, or morbid condition (of mind or disposition, of the affairs of a community, etc.); an evil affection or tendency.
| 1509 Hawes Past. Pleas. xvi. xlviii, A, a! said Counseyle, doubte ye never a dele, But your disease I shal by wysdome hele. 1597 Shakes. 2 Hen. IV, i. ii. 138 It is the disease of not Listning, the malady of not Marking, that I am troubled withall. 1607 Rowlands Famous Hist. 57 Ambitious pride hath been my youths disease. a 1661 Fuller Worthies, Warwicksh., Bad Latin was a catching disease in that age. 1785 Franklin Lett. Wks. 1840 VI. 526 The common causes of the smoking of chimneys..the principles on which both the disease and the remedy depend. 1844 Emerson Lect., New Eng. Ref. Wks. (Bohn) I. 266 The disease with which the human mind now labours is want of faith. |
4. Comb., as disease-germ, disease-maker; disease-causing, disease-producing, disease-resisting, disease-spreading, etc., adjs.
| 1865 Tylor Early Hist. Man. vi. 128 In the New Hebrides, there was a colony of disease-makers. 1883 Chamb. Jrnl. 27 What is known..in regard to the nature of disease-germs. 1886 Athenæum 7 Aug. 178/1 The coffee tree is the patient, the fungus..is the disease-causing agent. 1890 Daily News 22 Oct. 5/4 The disease-resisting potatoes. 1906 Westm. Gaz. 27 Aug. 5/1 The invasion of the body by disease-producing organisms. 1941 J. S. Huxley Uniqueness of Man iii. v. 98 Disease-producing bacteria. |
▪ II. disease, v.
(dɪˈziːz)
Forms: 4–5 dissese, 4–6 disese, 5 disees(e, -esse, -sease, -sase, dysese, -esse, -sese, -sesse, desese, dessayse, deshese, Sc. discese, 5–6 dys-, desease, 6 desesse, 7 discease, 5– disease.
[a. AF. *diseaser, -eeser, -aeser, for OF. desaaisier to deprive of ease, f. desaise n., after aaisier, aiser to ease.]
† 1. trans. To deprive of ease, make uneasy; to put to discomfort or inconvenience; to trouble, annoy, incommode, molest. Obs.
| c 1340 Hampole Prose Tr. 41 Ouþer for to put þe fra thi mete or thi slepe..or for to disesse any oþer mane vnskilfully. 1393 Gower Conf. II. 8 In parte he was right inly glad And eke in parte he was disesed. a 1420 Hoccleve De Reg. Princ. 754 It ruethe me, yf I have you disesede. 1526 Tindale Mark v. 35 Thy doughter is deed: why deseasest thou the master eny further? 1554 Knox Godly Let. A viij, He wold not disease hymself to heare a sermon. 1638 Chillingw. Relig. Prot. i. iv. §19. 200 That I should disease myself or my Reader with a punctual examination of it, may seem superfluous. 1697 Congreve Mourn. Bride iii. iv, What racking cares dis-ease a monarch's bed. |
† b. To disturb (from quiet, rest, or sleep). Obs.
| c 1374 Chaucer Troylus iii. 1419 (1468) And sufferyst hire [þe dawyng] to sone vp..ryse ffor to disese loueris in þis wyse. 1482 Monk of Evesham (Arb.) 34 Sum what troubulde and disesyd by the noyse of the couent when they went oute of the chirche. 1568 Jacob & Esau i. i. in Hazl. Dodsley II. 191 We disease our tent and neighbours all With rising over early. c 1611 Chapman Iliad x. 45 Brother, hie thee to thy ships, and Idomen dis-ease, With warlike Ajax. 1653 T. Bailey Fisher xxii. 202 He was loath to disease him of his rest. |
2. To bring into a morbid or unhealthy condition; to cause illness, sickness, or disease in, to infect with disease. Usually in pa. pple. diseased, q.v.
| 1467 [see diseased]. 1496 Dives & Paup. (W. de W.) ix. vi. 354 He hurte his fote and dyseased all his bodye. 1577 B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. iv. (1586) 191 Little children diseased with the dry cough. 1888 J. Ellis New Christianity iv. 116 No other poison..so perverts, diseases, pollutes and degrades a man..as does alcohol. |
| fig. a 1637 B. Jonson Eng. Gram. Pref., We free our Language..from the opinion of Rudeness, and Barbarism, wherewith it is mistaken to be diseas'd. c 1680 Hickeringill Hist. Whiggism Wks. 1716 I. 143 Evil Ministers Disease the Common-wealth. 1865 Lecky Ration. (1878) II. 375 Those ghastly notions..which..diseased the imaginations..of men. |
Hence diˈseasing vbl. n. and ppl. a. (in sense 1 (Obs.) and sense 2).
| 1558 Forrest Grysilde Sec. (1875) 101 She was remoued, to more diseasinge, To a towne Cowemoulton. 1615 T. Adams Blacke Devill 30 A diseasing displeasing change to be banished into a mountainous desert. 1628 Wither Brit. Rememb. iii. 147 In those diseasings, I more joy received. 1915 W. Meynell Aunt Sarah & War vii. 68 There's no disgraceful and diseasing drunkenness, but only this divine inebriation. |
▪ III. disease
obs. form of decease.