scirrhous, a.
(ˈsɪrəs, sk-)
Also 6 schirrhouse, 7 skirrous, skyrrhus, 7, 9 scirrous, 7–9 schirrous, 8 skirrhous.
[ad. F. scirr(h)eux (16th c.; now squirreux), ad. mod.L. scirrhōsus, f. L. scirrhus: see scirrhus and -ous. Cf. Sp. escirroso, Pg. scirrhoso, It. scirroso.]
Proceeding from, of the nature of, or resembling a scirrhus.
| 1563 T. Gale Antidot. i. 4 These medicines..make softe bodyes whiche bee scirrhous and harde. 1599 A. M. tr. Gabelhouer's Bk. Physicke 362/2 For harde knobbes, and Schirrhouse tumefactiones. 1615 Crooke Body of Man 183 The substance of the spleene is more rare and open then that of the Liuer, but yet is oftner afflicted with scirrhous tumors. 1666 J. Smith Old Age 186 The entrails of man..become far harder and faster, and more Schirrous than they were before. 1674–7 J. Molins Anat. Obs. (1896) 23 The Liver preternaturally large and Skyrrhus. 1754–64 Smellie Midwifery I. 132 The parts will grow schirrous and a cancer ensue. 1776 Trial of Nundocomar 33/1, I believe he has a scirrhous liver. 1790 J. C. Smyth in Med. Commun. II. 481 A..tumor of the indolent or skirrhous kind. 1855 Ramsbotham Obst. Med. & Surg. 227 Skirrhous glands may be detected by their being more or less firmly attached to the surrounding structures. 1878 Bryant Pract. Surg. I. 119 Scirrhous cancer. |
b. transf. Indurated; covered with hard excrescences. Also fig.
| 1658 Franck Northern Mem. (1821) 299 Worms that are taken and drag'd forth out of a hard and skirrous earth. 1781 Sir J. Reynolds Tour Flanders Wks. 1797 II. 97 A fine portrait of Vesalius the Anatomist, when young, by Tintoret. He has a skirrous bone in his left hand, the other holds a compass. 1816 Southey in Q. Rev. XVI. 512 In attempting to produce an effect upon schirrous hearts and distempered intellects. 1842 Tennyson Amphion 64 Blow, flute, and stir the stiff-set sprigs, And scirrhous roots and tendons. 1845 S. Judd Margaret i. ii. (1874) 7 The father disclosed a merry expression of face, shining, scirrhous skin, and a plump, ruby head. |
Hence ˈscirrhousness (Bailey vol. II, 1727).