measles

alternative measle · alternative the measles · alternative measels

1. uncountablemedicineAn acute and highly contagious disease which often afflicts children caused by the virus Measles morbillivirus and causing red rashes, fever, runny nose, coughing, and red eyes.

   Maybe it's the 'measles. They say they're going around the neighborhood.

   1970, Maya Angelou, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, page 78

   3 more examples

   Olivia, my eldest daughter, caught measles when she was seven years old. As the illness took its usual course I can remember reading to her often in bed and not feeling particularly alarmed about it.

   1986, Roald Dahl, Measles: A Dangerous Illness

   In the camps a case of measles is defined as a generalized rash of three or more days duration, with a fever of at least 38.8°C.., and any one of the following: cough, coryza or conjunctivitis.

   1990, International Journal of Epidemiology, volume 19, page 1073

   Although the MMR vaccine was introduced in 1988, Britain offered separate measles injections until 1999.

   2002 February 10, Sarah Lyall, “Britain Tries to Quell Fear Over Vaccine for Children”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 14 Feb 2021

   1. pluraluncountablemedicineplural of measle: a red spot forming part of a rash, (now) particularly those caused by M. morbillivirus.

      Others take a fether, and dippe it in the saide water, and therwith they annoynte all the Measells of the Face when they are come forth.

      1599, "A.M." translating Osswald Gäbelkhover as The Boock of Physicke, p. 277

      Synonyms: morbilli, rubeola, measlings

2. uncountablebiologySynonym of cysticercosis: A disease of livestock or meat caused by the presence of tapeworm larvae.

   The Swyne dyed of the Measils.

   1641, Ben Jonson, Timber

   1 more example

   Porcine measles, thought by classical writers to be leprosy, is actually the result of tapeworm cysts which cause ulcerations of the pig's tongue.

   1992, Maguelonne Toussaint-Samat, translated by Anthea Bell, The History of Food, page 416

   Synonyms: cysticercosis

   1. pluraluncountablebiologyplural of measle: the individual cysts of cysticercosis.
3. obsoleteuncountablebiologyAny disease causing a tree's bark to become rough and irregular.

   Their fruit-trees are subject to two diseases, the Meazels... and lowsiness.

   1674, John Josselyn, An Account of Two Voyages to New-England, page 190

   1. obsoletepluraluncountablebiologyplural of measle: the individual blisters in the surface of a diseased tree's bark.
4. figurativelypluraluncountableplural of measle: any similar-looking red spot, particularly (printing) foxing.

   The stars, like measles, fade at last.

   1929, Samuel Hoffenstein, “Mr Walter de la Mare”, in Poems in Praise of Practically Nothing, page 147

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   Measles. When prints are imperfectly fixed, the appearance presented is very similar to that of the same disease in the human subject. Hence the name.

   1867, Thomas Sutton et al., Dictionary of Photography, page 217

   The Lady Tofaa also had a red measle of paint on her forehead between her eyes.

   1984, Gary Jennings, The Journeyer, page 671

   How do I get the measles out of an Indian paper print, Lovejoy?... Measles is trade nickname for foxing, those brown spots... that trouble books, prints, and watercolors.

   1990, John Grant, The Very Last Gambado, page 125

5. USjargonuncountableespionageA discreet assassination made to look like death from natural causes.

   Such final solutions, sometimes referred to as termination with extreme prejudice, are known in the CIA as dying of the measles — that is, the death appears to be of natural causes.

   1977, Raymond Edward Palmer, The Making of a Spy, page 99

   1 more example

   […] they would prefer having him "die of the measles," as wags at the CIA put it, than be punished by legal means. If there is no convenient way of administering the "measles," they may even favor simply letting him go.

   1975, Miles Copeland, Beyond Cloak and Dagger: Inside the CIA, page 204

6. obsoleteuncountablemedicineAny disease causing red rashes.
7. obsoleteuncountableUsed as an intensifier.

   Why the meazills, should you stand heere, with your traine...

   1614 November 10 (first performance; Gregorian calendar), Beniamin Iohnson [i.e., Ben Jonson], Bartholmew Fayre: A Comedie, […], London: […] I[ohn] B[eale] for Robert Allot, […], published 1631, →OCLC, (please specify the page)

alternative measle · alternative the measles · alternative measels

1. indicativepresentsingularthird personthird-person singular simple present indicative of measle

alternative measle · alternative the measles · alternative measels

1. obsoletepluralplural of measle
2. alternativeobsoleteAlternative form of mesels: Leprosy.