The Collaborative International Dictionary
Emphysema \Em`phy*se"ma\, n. [NL., from Gr. ? inflation, fr. ? to inflate; ? in + ? to blow: cf. F. emphys[`e]me.] (Med.) A swelling produced by gas or air diffused in the cellular tissue.
Emphysema of the lungs, Pulmonary emphysema (Med.), a common disease of the lungs in which the air cells are distended and their partition walls ruptured by an abnormal pressure of the air contained in them.
Usage examples of "emphysema of the lungs".
His mother had died in 1993, but his father, who had turned eighty-four in 1997, was still alive and in full possession of his mental faculties and his health, despite having emphysema of the lungs (even though he'd never smoked) and despite living entirely off frozen food because he couldn't get a housekeeper who could put up with his eccentricities.