Definition

1. Noun:
   • A medical condition characterized by swelling: "Dropsy" refers to an abnormal swelling in the body caused by the excessive accumulation of watery fluid in cells, tissues, or body cavities. This is an older, less common term for what is now more precisely called "edema."

Usage

• "Dropsy" is a dated medical term. In modern clinical language, the condition is almost always referred to as edema. It is used to describe the symptom of swelling, not the underlying disease itself (e.g., heart failure, kidney disease).
• It can be used in a historical or literary context to describe such swelling.

Examples

• Noun:
  • The doctor diagnosed the patient with dropsy, noting the severe swelling in her legs and ankles.
  • In the 19th century, dropsy was a common and often fatal complication of heart disease.

Advanced Usage

• "to have the dropsy": an old-fashioned way of saying someone suffers from edema.
  • The character in the novel was described as having the dropsy, which left him bedridden.

Variants and Related Words

• Edema (n): the modern medical term for swelling caused by excess fluid trapped in the body's tissues. This is the direct synonym for "dropsy."
• Hydrops (n): a technical term, often used in specific compound names like "hydrops fetalis," meaning an abnormal accumulation of fluid in a fetus.

Synonyms

• Edema: swelling from fluid accumulation.
• Swelling: a general term for an enlarged or puffed-up area of the body.
• Oedema (n): the British English spelling of "edema."

Related Phrases

• Dropsy of the abdomen: an old term for ascites, which is the accumulation of fluid in the peritoneal cavity, causing abdominal swelling.
  • The chronic liver failure led to dropsy of the abdomen.

Notes on Meaning

• While the core meaning is a medical condition, the word has an archaic feel. Its use today is primarily historical, in literature, or when explaining older texts.
• The provided "figurative" meaning of "a state of being bloated or swollen" is very rare and not standard in modern English. The term is almost exclusively medical/historical.

Noun

1. swelling from excessive accumulation of watery fluid in cells, tissues, or serous cavities