‖ lepra Path.
(ˈlɛprə)
[Late L., a. Gr. λέπρα: see leper n.1]
A skin disease characterized by desquamation: (a) formerly used as a synonym for psoriasis; (b) now commonly applied to leprosy (Lepra cutanea or Elephantiasis Græcorum).
| 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. vii. lxiv. (1495) 279 In foure manere wyse Lepra meselry is dyuerse as the foure humours ben passyngly and dyuersly medlyd. c 1400 Lanfranc's Cirurg. 196 Lepra is a foul sijknes þat comeþ of malancolie corrupt. 1671 Salmon Syn. Med. i. xlviii. 114 Lepra the Leprosie is that which affecteth the whole Body or a part thereof with Scurff like Scales. 1811 A. T. Thomson Lond. Disp. (1818) 152 Scrofulous swellings, lepra, and some other cutaneous diseases. 1864 W. T. Fox Skin Dis. 43 Lepra and psoriasis are identical, though the two names are retained. 1876 tr. Wagner's Gen. Pathol. (ed. 6) 439 The common form of Lepra is characterized by a nodular formation. 1881 Med. Temp. Jrnl. XLVI. 76 Attended with lepra or psoriasis. |
| attrib. 1897 Allbutt's Syst. Med. II. 56 A large collection, or several clusters, of characteristic lepra-cells. 1898 P. Manson Trop. Diseases xxvi. 391 A direct and early implication of the nervous system by the lepra bacillus. Ibid. 412 A Sandwich Islander..was inoculated from a lepra tubercle. |
b. Bot. ‘A white mealy matter, which exudes or protrudes from the surface of some plants; leprosy’ (Treas. Bot. 1866).