‖ carcinoma
(kɑːsɪˈnəʊmə)
Pl. carciˈnomata.
[L., a. Gr. καρκίνωµα (-µατ-), the disease cancer, f. καρκίνος crab; cf. cancer.]
1. Med. The disease cancer. Now usually restricted to a malignant tumour of epithelial origin (the general term being cancer).
‘This word has been applied by authors in other ways. Indolent non-malignant tumours, [and] those forms only of cancer in which the structure resembles brain matter, have been thus called..By some..restricted to the early stages only of cancer’ (Syd. Soc. Lex.).
| 1721 Bailey, Carcinoma, the Cancer before it comes to an Ulcer. 1751 Chambers Cycl., Carcinoma, in medicine, a tumour more usually called a Cancer. 1805 Med. Jrnl. XIV. 83 Possessing a similar life with carcinoma, and multiplying in the same manner. 1878 T. Bryant Pract. Surg. I. 99 Secondary carcinomata can only be produced by the direct propagation of the epithelial cells. |
† 2. Med. A disease of the cornea. Obs.
| 1731 Bailey, Carcinoma..a Disease in the horny Coat of the Eye. 1753 Chambers Cycl. Supp., Carcinoma is..used to denote a disorder of the tunica cornea of the eye, wherein the little veins of the part appear turgid and livid. |
3. Bot. ‘A disease in trees when the bark separates, an acrid sap exuding and ulcerating the surrounding parts’ (Treas. Bot.).