"varicose" - Word of the Day from the OED

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varicose, a.

SECOND EDITION 1989

(værks, værks)  [ad. L. varics-us (hence It., Sp., and Pg. varicoso), f. varic- VARIX: see -OSE.] 

    1. Path. or Med. Affected with, characterized by, of the nature of, a varix or varices.

1730 BAILEY, Varicose, that hath the Veins puffed up and swoln more than ordinary with corrupt Blood. 1770 Med. Observ. (1772) IV. 377 Two Letters on the Varicose Aneurysm, from Mr. W. White, Surgeon at York, to W. Hunter. 1808 BARCLAY Muscular Motions 234 Cases of disease where the distension of these veins had..produced..that unseemly appearance which is termed varicose. 1826 S. COOPER First Lines Surg. (ed. 5) 180 The use of the knife, and of ligatures for the cure of varicose ulcers. 1843 Penny Cycl. XXVI. 185 Varicose affection of the veins of the spermatic cord constitutes the disease named varicocele. 1880 BASTIAN Brain 32 They then not unfrequently assume an irregular or varicose appearance.

    b. Of veins: Unnaturally swollen or dilated.
  ‘When a vein becomes varicose, it has a blue colour, becomes dilated, knotty, and irregular, and winds in a serpentine manner under the skin’ (1835 Cyclop. Pract. Med. IV. 445).

1797 M. BAILLIE Morb. Anat. (1807) 357 When the enlargement of the veins is very considerable, they also become varicose. 1807 Med. Jrnl. XVII. 299, I have met with many instances of varicose veins on this island. 1844 G. BIRD Urin. Dep. (1857) 403 She had morning sickness, and the veins of her lower extremities were varicose. 1884 M. MACKENZIE Dis. Throat & Nose II. 56 The patient had varicose veins of the gullet.

fig. 1846 LANDOR Imag. Conv. Wks. I. 74 Milton has..not a sinew sharp or rigid, not a vein varicose or inflated. 1864 SALA in Temple Bar Feb. 337 The responsibility of originating these varicose veins in the limbs of a fair city.

    2. Ent. and Bot. Unusually enlarged or swollen; resembling a varix.

1826 KIRBY & SP. Entomol. IV. xl. 103 These [bile-vessels] by Malpighi and the earlier physiologists..were denominated varicose vessels. Ibid. xlvi. 340 Varicose,..when the nervures are disproportionably swelled in any part. 1882 VINES tr. Sachs' Bot. 468 The bordering cells project into the canal like varicose hairs.

    3. Of appliances: Designed or used for the treatment of varicose veins.

1858 SIMMONDS Dict. Trade, Varicose-stockings, elastic or bandaged stockings for giving pressure and support to swelled veins in the legs.

    Hence varicosed ppl. a.

1891 in Cent. Dict. 1900 Brit. Med. Jrnl. No. 2040. 248, I now saw a bright red varicosed papilla.

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