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The Collaborative International Dictionary
Elephantiasis

Elephantiasis \El`e*phan*ti"a*sis\, n. [L., fr. Gr. ?, from 'ele`fas, 'ele`fantos, an elephant.] (Med.) A disease of the skin, in which it become enormously thickened, and is rough, hard, and fissured, like an elephant's hide.

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
elephantiasis

1580s, from Greek elephantos, genitive of elephas "elephant" (see elephant) + -iasis "pathological or morbid condition." It refers to two diseases, one characterized by thickening of a body part (E. Arabum), the other, older meaning is "disease characterized by skin resembling an elephant's" (E. Græcorum, also called Egyptian leprosy). In Middle English, elephancy (late 14c.).

Wiktionary
elephantiasis

n. (context pathology English) A complication of chronic filariasis, in which nematode worms block the lymphatic vessels, usually in the legs or scrotum, causing extreme enlargement of the infected area.

WordNet
elephantiasis

n. hypertrophy of certain body parts (usually legs and scrotum); the end state of the disease filariasis

Wikipedia
Elephantiasis

Elephantiasis is a symptom of a variety of diseases, where parts of a person's body swell to massive proportions.

Some conditions that have this symptom include:

  • Elephantiasis nostras, due to longstanding chronic lymphangitis
  • Elephantiasis tropica or lymphatic filariasis, caused by a number of parasitic worms, particularly Wuchereria bancrofti
  • Nonfilarial elephantiasis or podoconiosis, an immune disease affecting the lymph vessels
  • Elephantiasis, Grade 4 lymphedema
  • Genital elephantiasis, end result of lymphogranuloma venereum
  • Proteus syndrome, the genetic disorder of the so-called Elephant Man

Category:Symptoms and signs: Skin and subcutaneous tissue

Usage examples of "elephantiasis".

Mann quotes Munde in speaking of an instance of removal of elephantiasis of the vulva without interrupting pregnancy, and says that there are many cases of the removal of venereal warts without any interference with gestation.

Malaria, elephantiasis, and the breakbone fever came north to Greenland.

A popliteal aneurism, a Colles' fracture, a spina bifida, a tropical abscess, and an elephantiasis.

The Pacific Ocean was a body of water surrounded on all sides by elephantiasis and other dread diseases to which, if he ever displeased Colonel Cathcart by grounding Yossarian, he might suddenly find himself transferred.

In New Caledonia, Kabo Mandalat, the female demon who causes elephantiasis, is a gigantic hermit crab, with legs as big as coconut trees, living in the shell of an enormous Delium-melanostoma.