glaucoma
(glɔːˈkəʊmə)
Also 7 glaucome.
[a. Gr. γλαύκωµα, f. γλαυκός: see glaucous.]
A disease of the eye, characterized by increased tension of the globe and gradual impairment or loss of vision. The word was formerly used to denote cataract (Syd. Soc. Lex. 1885).
| 1643 Herle Answ. Ferne 2 Physicians tels us of a disease in the eye, called a Glaucome, whereby it sees every thing coloured, as the distemper of the aqueous humour. 1705 Lond. Gaz. No. 4185/3 An Obstruction in the Optick Nerves, and a Glaucoma. 1739 Sharp Surg. xxviii. 159 Since..the Glaucoma is no other Disease than the Cataract. 1879 P. Smith Glaucoma 1 Primary glaucoma, though not rare, is one of the less common maladies of the eye. 1885 Syd. Soc. Lex. s.v., Brisseau, in 1705, established by his dissections the distinction between true glaucoma..and ordinary cataract, showing that the former was a disease of the vitreous body, and the latter of the crystalline lens. |
| fig. 1886 Morgan Dix Gospel & Philos. 113 The moral confusion and intellectual glaucoma of the day. |
| attrib. 1879 St. George's Hosp. Rep. IX. 489 In the fifth glaucoma patient the affection was combined with old iritic and corneal trouble. |