▪ I. lethargy, n.
(ˈlɛθədʒɪ)
Forms: 4 litergi, litargi, -y, lytargye, 4–6 litargie, li-, lytarge, (7 lytargie), 5–6 letargie, -ye, 6 letarge, letharge, 6–7 lethargie, (6 lithargie, lethergie), 6– lethargy.
[a. L. lēthargia (med.L. litargīa, after med.Gr. pronunciation), a. Gr. ληθαργία, f. λήθαργος forgetful, a derivative or compound of ληθ-, λανθάνειν to escape notice, λανθάνεσθαι to forget. Cf. F. léthargie (OF. litargie), Pr. litargia, Sp. letargia, Pg. lethargia, It. letargia.
The ME. forms in -arge may represent L. lēthargus, Gr. λήθαργος; the adj. was used subst. as a name for the disease.]
1. Path. A disorder characterized by morbid drowsiness or prolonged and unnatural sleep.
Negro lethargy, a disorder peculiar to the Negroes of the west coast of Africa, characterized by attacks of somnolence, and ending fatally in most instances in three to twelve months (Syd. Soc. Lex. 1888).
| c 1374 Chaucer Troylus i. 674 (730) What slomberyst þou as in lytargye. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xvii. iii. (Tollem. MS.), Floures þerof [of almonds] sode in oyle awakeþ hem þat haueþ þe litargy, the slepynge euel. c 1400 Lanfranc's Cirurg. 310 And þis cauterie is good for sijknes þat ben in þe partie bihinde of a mannes brayn as for þe litarge. 1501 Douglas Pal. Hon. i. xxvi, My daisit heid fordullit disselie, I raisit vp half in ane litargie. 1534 More Comf. agst. Trib. i. Wks. 1144/1 Regarding nothing, thinking almost of nothing, no more then if they laye in a letarge. 1579 Langham Gard. Health (1633) 227 Stroake it on the temples for the Lytargie. 1593 R. Harvey Philad. 26 At last a lethargy made an end of him. 1604 Shakes. Oth. iv. i. 54 The Lethargie must haue his quyet course: If not, he foames at mouth. 1732 Arbuthnot Rules of Diet 367 A Lethargy is a lighter sort of Apoplexy. 1833 Cycl. Pract. Med. I. 445/1 By lethargy is meant a torpor both mental and corporeal, with deep quiet sleep... This is the slightest form of coma. 1840 Dickens Barn. Rudge lxvi, He soon fell into a lethargy. |
2. A condition of torpor, inertness, or apathy.
| c 1380 Wyclif Wks. (1880) 372 Well myȝte we seuer þat slepe of litergi þat is fallen upon vs. 1593 Nashe Christ's T. 87 We (surprised with a lethargy of sinne) do nothing but laugh and iest in the midst of our sleepie security. 1601 Shakes. Twel. N. i. v. 132 Cosin, Cosin, how haue you come so earely by this Lethargie? 1606 Warner Alb. Eng. xiv. xcii, Had not hate in scottish hearts bread Lethargie of feare. 1642 in Clarendon Hist. Reb. vi. §196 It was a strange fatal Lethargy which had seized Our good People, and kept them from discerning, that [etc.]. 1672 Dryden 2nd Pt. Conq. Granada Def. Epil. 174 Falling..into a carelessness, and (as I may call it) a Lethargy of thought. 1702 Pope Sappho 128 No tear had pow'r to flow, Fix'd in a stupid lethargy of woe. 1761 Hume Hist. Eng. II. xxix. 148 Men, roused from that lethargy in which they had so long slept. 1837 Dickens Pickw. ii, That gentleman had gradually passed through the various stages which precede the lethargy produced by dinner. 1842 Tennyson St. Sim. Styl. 101 Oft I fall, Maybe for months, in such blind lethargies, That Heaven, and Earth, and Time are choked. 1879 Froude Cæsar xxi. 356 Desperate at the lethargy of their commander, the aristocracy tried to force him into movement. |
| transf. 1869 Phillips Vesuv. v. 152 The expiring stages or intermittent lethargy of a volcano. |
† 3. A lethargic or sleepy person. Obs.
| 1634 Shirley Example i. i, Dormant, why Dormant, thou eternall sleeper! Who would be troubled with these lethargies about him? Dormant, are you come Dreamer. |
▪ II. † ˈlethargy, v. Obs. rare.
[f. lethargy n.]
trans. To affect with lethargy.
| 1605 Shakes. Lear i. iv. 249 His Discernings Are Lethargied. 1769 Colman Prose Sev. Occas. (1787) III. 182 If lethargied by dulness here you sit. 1893 F. Thompson Poems 75 It grew lethargied with fierce bliss. |
▪ III. lethargy
obs. form of litharge.