What is "amyloid degeneration"

Amyloid \Am"y*loid\, Amyloidal \Am`y*loid"al\, a. [L. amylum starch + -oid.] Resembling or containing amyl; starchlike.

Amyloid degeneration (Med.), a diseased condition of various organs of the body, produced by the deposit of an albuminous substance, giving a blue color with iodine and sulphuric acid; -- called also waxy degeneration or lardaceous degeneration.

Degeneration \De*gen`er*a"tion\, n. [Cf. F. d['e]g['e]n['e]ration.]

1. The act or state of growing worse, or the state of having become worse; decline; degradation; debasement; degeneracy; deterioration.

   Our degeneration and apostasy.
   --Bates.

2. (Physiol.) That condition of a tissue or an organ in which its vitality has become either diminished or perverted; a substitution of a lower for a higher form of structure; as, fatty degeneration of the liver.

3. (Biol.) A gradual deterioration, from natural causes, of any class of animals or plants or any particular organ or organs; hereditary degradation of type.

4. The thing degenerated. [R.]

   Cockle, aracus, . . . and other degenerations.
   --Sir T. Browne.

   Amyloid degeneration, Caseous degeneration, etc. See under Amyloid, Caseous, etc.