diabetes Med.
(daɪəˈbiːtiːz)
[a. L. diabētēs, a. Gr. διαβήτης, lit. ‘a passer through; a siphon’, also, in Aretæus as the name of the disease, f. διαβαίνειν to pass through.]
† 1. A siphon. Obs.
| 1661 Boyle Spring of Air (1682) 107 If a Glass Diabetes or Syringe be made of a sufficient length. |
2. Med. A disease characterized by the immoderate discharge of urine containing glucose, and accompanied by thirst and emaciation.
Sometimes called Diabetes mellitus, to distinguish it from Diabetes insipidus which is characterized by an absence of saccharine matter. (In 18th c. usually with the or a.)
| 1562 Turner Baths 7 a, It is good for the flixe to the chamber pot called of the beste Physicianes Diabetes, that is when a man maketh water oft and much. 1649 Culpepper Phys. Direct. 70 [It] helps the Diabetes, or continual pissing. 1690 Luttrell Brief Rel. (1857) II. 106 The earl of Gainsborough died lately of a diabetes. 1769 Alexander tr. Morgagni's Seats and Causes of Diseases II. iii. 465 A certain Count, who had laboured under a diabetes. 1845 G. E. Day tr. Simon's Anim. Chem. I. 327 Rollo was..the first who proved the presence of sugar in the blood during diabetes. 1875 T. Tanner Pract. Med. (ed. 7) I. 28 A temporary diabetes can occasionally be produced by the excessive consumption of sugar or starch. 1879 Khory Princ. Med. 59 In diabetes the skin is dry and harsh. |
b. transf. and fig.
| 1686 Goad Celest. Bodies ii. viii. 273 What is the reason of this Diabetes Celestial, when the Clouds are so often dropping, and can't hold? 1839 Landor Wks. (1846) I. 375/2 Knowing your diabetes of mind. |