The Collaborative International Dictionary
Tabes \Ta"bes\ (t[=a]"b[=e]z), n. [L., a wasting disease.] (Med.) Progressive emaciation of the body, accompanied with hectic fever, with no well-marked local symptoms.
Tabes dorsalis (t[=a]"b[=e]z d[^o]r*s[=a]"l[i^]s) [NL., tabes of the back], locomotor ataxia; -- sometimes called simply tabes.
Tabes mesenterica[NL., mesenteric tabes], a wasting disease of childhood characterized by chronic inflammation of the lymphatic glands of the mesentery, attended with caseous degeneration.
Wiktionary
n. (context pathology English) A degeneration of the sensory neurons of the spinal cord carrying afferent information.
WordNet
n. syphilis of the spinal cord characterized by degeneration of sensory neurons and stabbing pains in the trunk and legs and unsteady gait and incontinence and impotence [syn: locomotor ataxia]
Wikipedia
Tabes dorsalis, also known as syphilitic myelopathy, is a slow degeneration (specifically, demyelination) of the nerves primarily in the dorsal columns (posterior columns) of the spinal cord (the portion closest to the back of the body). These nerves normally help maintain a person's sense of position ( proprioception), vibration, and discriminative touch.
Usage examples of "tabes dorsalis".
But he's not going to do anything until next week after I finish the books for him, so I had secret orders cut for us this week sending us to Tabes Dorsalis where the cement mines are.
That was in 1818, and when I became horribly ill and died in 1822 I knew that it was not simply the liver ailment that grew from all that champagne, or the mysterious paralysis that was at last diagnosed as tabes dorsalis -- one of the many names given to the old, old disease -- that carried me off.