anorexia Med.
(ˈænɒˌrɛksɪə)
Also anorexy.
[a. mod.L. anorexia, a. Gr. ἀνορεξία, f. ἀν priv. + ὀρέγ-ειν to reach after, desire. Cf. Fr. anorexie.]
Want of appetite; ‘inappetency.’ J. anorexia nervosa, a condition marked by emaciation, etc., in which loss of appetite results from severe emotional disturbance.
| 1598 Sylvester Furies 450 (D.) Then the Anorexie, Then the Dog-hunger or the Bradypepsie. 1650 Baxter Saints Rest iv. vi, These are sick of the anorexia, and apepsy, they have neither appetite nor digestion. 1864 R. Burton Dahome I. 329 We bade adieu to anorexy, felt hinc sanitas now. 1873 W. W. Gull Let. 30 Apr. in Trans. Clinical Soc. (1874) VII. 26 The case appears to be an extreme instance of what I have proposed to call ‘Apepsia hysterica’, or ‘Anorexia nervosa’. 1874 Ibid. 25, I used the term Apepsia hysterica but..Anorexia would be more correct. The want of appetite is, I believe, due to a morbid mental state... We might call the state hysterical... I prefer, however, the more general term ‘nervosa’. 1939 Psychosomatic Med. I. 335/1 The syndrome of anorexia nervosa. 1963 P. H. Johnson Night & Silence xxiv. 173 He tried to eat it, but was taken by a terrible anorexia. |