Definition

1. Noun:
   • An acute contagious viral disease: Mumps is a specific infectious illness caused by a virus. It is characterized primarily by fever and painful swelling of the salivary glands, most notably the parotid glands located in front of and below the ears.

Usage Examples

• Noun:
  • The child was kept home from school because he had the mumps.
  • A vaccine for mumps is typically given as part of the MMR (measles, mumps, and rubella) immunization.
  • Before the vaccine was common, outbreaks of mumps were frequent among children.

Advanced Usage

• "To have the mumps": This is the standard phrase to indicate someone is infected with the disease.
  • She can't come to the party because she has the mumps.

Variants and Related Words

• Mump (verb, archaic): This is an obsolete verb meaning to mumble or sulk. It is etymologically related but not used in modern medical contexts.
• Parotitis (noun): This is the medical term for inflammation of the parotid glands, which is the primary symptom of mumps.

Synonyms

• Epidemic parotitis: This is a formal, technical synonym for mumps.
• Infectious parotitis: Another technical term describing the same disease.

Related Phrases

• MMR vaccine: The common combination vaccine that protects against measles, mumps, and rubella.
• Mumps virus: The specific pathogen that causes the disease.

Notes

• Mumps is typically treated as a plural noun (e.g., "The mumps are unpleasant") but can also be used with a singular verb in medical contexts, reflecting its status as a single disease entity (e.g., "Mumps is a preventable disease"). The example "an acute contagious viral disease" treats it as a singular noun.

Noun

1. an acute contagious viral disease characterized by fever and by swelling of the parotid glands