▪ I. ‖ fistula, n.
(ˈfɪstjʊlə)
Forms: α. 5–6 fystel, (6 fistle, fystle, -yl), 6–7 fistule, (6 fystule). β. 6 fystela, fistulay, -ey, fistelow, -olo(e, phistilo, 6–7 fistulo(e, 7 fistila, 6– fistula.
[a. L. fistula pipe, flute (also in pathological sense = 1), of which the popular representative in OF. was festre, fester n.
In Eng. the word appears first in adapted forms, perh. taken from OF. fistle, fistule.]
1. a. Pathol. A long, narrow, suppurating canal of morbid origin in some part of the body; a long, sinuous pipe-like ulcer with a narrow orifice.
| α 1481 Caxton Reynard (Arb). 82 Colyk, stranguyllyon, stone, fystel or kanker or ony other sekenes. 1527 Andrew Brunswyke's Distyll. Waters C iv, It is good for to wasshe the fystules with the same water twyse in a daye. 1547 Boorde Brev. Health §236 A fystle. 1599 A. M. Gabelhouer's Physick 318/2 This cureth all wounds, and all fistles. |
| β [1398 Trevisa Barth. de P.R. vii. lix. (1495) 274 Fistula, the fester is a postume that..rootyth wythin.] 1563 T. Gale Antidot. ii. 25 This vnguent..doeth also profyte muche in Fistulays. c 1570 Sir H. Gilbert Q. Eliz. Acad. (1869) 5 Towching all kindes of Vlcers, Sores, Phistiloes, wowndes, &c. 1579 Langham Gard. Health (1633) 12 It is good for all wounds, fistilaes, and sores of the mouth. 1671 Salmon Syn. Med. iii. xxii. 423 It cools Feavers and cures Ulcers, Fistulas, Cancers. 1732 Arbuthnot Rules of Diet 360 It happens sometimes to end in a Fistula. 1879 Green Read. Eng. Hist. xviii. 89 Henry, notwithstanding his fistula and his fever, was able to sit on horseback. |
| fig. 1581 J. Bell Haddon's Answ. Osor. 389 b, Fosteryng continually this fretting Fistula within the Bowels of the Christian commonweale. 1622 W. Whately God's Husb. ii. 48 An heart diseased with that grievous fistula of hypocrisie. 1644 Bulwer Chiron. 5 The mouth is but a running sore and hollow fistula of the minde. |
b. in animals, birds, etc.
| 1607 Markham Caval. vii. xxvi. 45 heading, Of the Poll euill or Fistula in the Necke. 1614 ― Cheap Husb. viii. xvi. (1668) 133 The Fistula in hawks is a cankerous, hollow Ulcer in any part of a hawks body. 1678 Lond. Gaz. No. 1311/4 A sorrel Gelding..having formerly had a Fistula. 1861 G. F. Berkeley Sportsm. W. Prairies x. 162 Sylph [a mare]..having been blistered too severely on the withers where a fistula had evidently been apprehended. |
c. Also applied to certain passages in the body made surgically.
| 1892 Keen & White Text-bk. Surg. II. iii. vi. 691 An intentional gastric fistula may require surgical treatment for its closure if the object for which the fistula was made has been accomplished, as when it has been undertaken with a view of dilating a cicatricial stricture of the cardiac orifice. 1963 W. V. McDermott in R. Warren Surgery xxvi. 825/1 In 1877 Nikolai Eck conducted a series of experiments on dogs in which he diverted the portal blood into the inferior vena cava... This type of shunt has commonly been referred to as the Eck fistula. |
2. Bot. = cassia fistula: see cassia 4.
| 1812 J. Smyth Pract. of Customs (1821) 62 This is the purgative fruit or pods of the Cassia Fistula, black or purging Fistula. |
3. A natural or normal pipe or spout in cetaceous animals, insects, etc. (see quots.).
| 1646 Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. iii. xix. 154 Like cetaceous animals and Whales, the Lamprey hath a fistula spout or pipe at the back part of the head. 1658 Ibid. iii. xxvi. 215 The Fistula or spout [of the Whale]. 1661 Lovell Hist. Anim. & Min. Introd., The Mollusca..have a fistule above the head. 1848 Maunder Treas. Nat. Hist. Gloss. App., Fistula, the intermediate subquadrangular pipe, in insects, formed by the union of the two branches of the antlia which conveys the nectar to the pharynx. |
4. Eccl. A tube through which in early times communicants received the consecrated wine; now used by the Pope only.
| 1670 R. Lassels Voy. Italy ii. 53 The fistula, or pipe of gold wherwith the Pope receiues the consecrated blood of our Sauiour in the Chalice. 1848 Ecclesiologist VIII. 99 He held the chalice with his right hand, and the fistula in the chalice with his left, while the brethren in order imbibed. |
‖ 5. Mus. A reed instrument or pipe of the ancient Romans.
| 1717 Lady M. W. Montagu Lett. (1893) I. 301 A rural instrument, perfectly answering the description of the ancient fistula, being composed of unequal reeds. 1722 J. Richardson Statues Italy, etc. 185 One sits upon a Rock playing on a Fistula. 1727 Pope Mem. M. Scriblerus i. v. Wks. 1741 II. 19, I will have it [the Whistle] exactly to correspond with the ancient Fistula. |
▪ II. † ˈfistula, v. Obs.
In 6 fystle.
[f. prec. n.]
intr. To form or become a fistula.
| 1547 Boorde Brev. Health vi. 9 If this impediment do encrease, and a remedy by tyme not had, it wyll fester and fystle. 1646 J. Whitaker Uzziah 39 Till at last it fistula or gangrene. |