dropsy1
/ˈdrɒpsi
/noun (plural dropsies)
Old-fashioned or less technical term for oedema.Disease manifestations, such as fever, dropsy, diarrhea, or cyanosis, were used as names of diseases....
- The leaves are bitter and are used as a remedy for ophthalmia, ulcers, dropsy, cholera and beriberi associated with a weakness of the heart.
- In the 1925 edition of Osler's text, respiratory failure was described as ‘frothy pulmonary edema that resembles serum, not the sanguinous transudative edema fluid seen in dropsy or congestive heart failure’.
Origin
Middle English: shortening of idropesie, earlier form of obsolete hydropsy, via Old French and Latin from Greek hudrōps 'dropsy', from hudōr 'water'.
Rhymes
dropsy2
/ˈdrɒpsi/noun (plural dropsies) British informal
A tip or bribe: McCloy’s little dropsy for services rendered
Origin
1930s: slang, elaborated form of slang drop 'a bribe'.