‖ hydrocephalus Path.
(haɪdrəʊˈsɛfələs)
[Medical L., ad. Gr. ὑδροκέϕαλον, f. ὑδρο- water + κεϕαλή head.]
A disease of the brain especially incident to young children, consisting in an accumulation of serous fluid in the cavity of the cranium, resulting in gradual expansion of the skull, and finally inducing general weakness, with failure of the memory and mental faculties; water on the brain.
| 1670 Phil. Trans. V. 2080 A child, one year old, so diseased with the Hydrocephalus, that when open'd, there were taken out of his Head 36 ounces of clear, but saltish, water. 1727–41 Chambers Cycl. s.v., Children are more liable to hydrocephali, than adults. 1756 Gentl. Mag. XXVI. 516 [He] laboured under a hydrocephalus. 1866–80 A. Flint Princ. Med. (ed. 5) 716 By the term hydrocephalus..is understood an excessive accumulation of serous fluid in the ventricles of the brain, particularly the lateral ventricles. |