The Collaborative International Dictionary
Down syndrome \Down" syn`drome\, Down's syndrome \Down's" syn`drome\, n. (Med.) A congenital disorder caused by an extra chromosome 21 in some or all cells. It causes a variable number and degree of abnormalities, including retarded growth, mental retardation, a short nose, prominent epicanthic folds on the eyelids, a protruding lower lip, and other physical features having varying degrees of deviation from the normal. Called also mongolism, trisomy-21 and trisomy 21 syndrome.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
1961, from J.L.H. Down (1828-1896), English physician; chosen as a less racist name for the condition than earlier mongolism.
Usage examples of "down's syndrome".
There have been claims that there can be a genetic predisposition to the condition, and that it might be linked to Down's syndrome in infants.
Maybe some of his wrath was directed at himself, because he had flushed away his principles, and maybe we were seeing sixteen years of pent-up anger at God for Carmelita's dying in childbirth and for Toby's being born with Down's syndrome, and I think-feel-know that some of this was fury he could not would not, dared not admit feeling toward Toby, dear Toby, whom he loved desperately but who had so severely limited his life.