water sickness

noun

Dropsy.

OriginMiddle English watersiknesse ← Old English wætersēocnes →
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Meanings

nounwater sickness (uncountable)
  1. archaicrareuncountableDropsy.

    Water sickness, or general dropsy, also frequently takes place among sheep.

    1809, Arthur Edmondston, A View of the Ancient and Present State of the Zetland Islands
    1 more example

    For water sickness (dropsy), or stones in the bladder, the cure was elder (sambucus, B.P.), for which also it is claimed “all things which are generated on a man's body to loathe, it thoroughly will heal.”

    1908, British Medical Journal, page 999

Synonyms & antonyms

Also see
dropsy

Origin

  1. Old Englishwætersēocnes“dropsy”
  2. Middle Englishwatersiknesse
  3. Englishwater sickness

From Middle English watersiknesse, wæterseocnesse, from Old English wætersēocnes (“dropsy”), equivalent to water + sickness.

More words from Middle English, Old English

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

water sickness. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/water%20sickness

MLA

“water sickness.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/water%20sickness. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “water sickness,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/water%20sickness.

Source: water sickness on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.