hernia Path.
(ˈhɜːnɪə)
Pl. herniæ, hernias. Also 4–5 hirnia, -ya, hyrnya, 6 (Anglicized) herny, -ie.
[L. = rupture. Cf. F. hernie.]
A tumour formed by the displacement and resulting protrusion of a part of an organ through an aperture, natural or accidental, in the walls of its containing cavity; rupture.
| c 1386 Chaucer Pars. T. ¶349 Horrible swollen membres that semeth lik the maladie of Hirnia. c 1400 Lanfranc's Cirurg. 273 If hernia be watri, þis is þe signe þerof. 1547 Boorde Brev. Health clxxvi. 62 b, There be thre kindes named..a wateryshe herny, a wyndy hernye, a fleshely herny. 1578 Lyte Dodoens i. lx. 87 Hernies, Ruptures, or burstings. 1605 B. Jonson Volpone iii. v, That I had Nestor's hernia thou wouldst think. 1727–51 Chambers Cycl. s.v., Hernia's are often occasioned by blows, violent concussions, over-stretching in vomiting [etc.]. 1878 T. Bryant Pract. Surg. I. 644 Abdominal hernia or rupture signifies the protrusion of any viscus through an opening in the parietes of the abdominal cavity. |
b. attrib., as hernia knife, hernia truss.
| 1878 T. Bryant Pract. Surg. I. 663 With a hernia knife,..or herniotome, the stricture should then be divided. |