blind boil

plural blind boils

1. medicineA boil under or on the skin that suppurates imperfectly, or fails to come to a head.

   A singular species of worms, called by the natives 'Gusano del Monte'—Worm of the Woods, was found under the surface of the skin, and covered over like a blind boil.

   1854, Darien Exploring Expedition (1854)

   1 more example

   Boils are common, too, amongst the natives in some parts. Mr. Gason says that a disease—Mirra—afflicts every native once in his life—sometimes at three years of age, but more frequently at fourteen or thereabouts. The symptoms are large blind boils, under the arms, in the groin, or on the breast or thighs, varying in size from a hen's egg to that of an emu's egg.

   1878, Robert Brough Smyth, The Aborigines of Victoria, Volume 1/Chapter 9