staggers

Thân thiện

The horse staggers across the pasture.

Definition

Noun 1. A disease affecting the nervous system: A specific disease, primarily of livestock such as horses and cattle, that affects the central nervous system. Its key characteristic is a severe lack of coordination. 2. The symptom of unsteady movement: The condition of walking or moving with a reeling, unsteady, and swaying motion, as if about to fall.

Usage

• Noun (Medical/Veterinary): Used to name the specific disease.
  • The veterinarian diagnosed the cow with staggers.
  • Outbreaks of staggers can be linked to certain toxic plants.
• Noun (Descriptive): Used to describe the unsteady gait itself.
  • The poison caused a violent staggers in the animal.
  • He walked with the staggers of a very ill man.

Advanced Usage

• The term is often used in a veterinary or agricultural context. In general human medicine, similar symptoms are more commonly described as "ataxia" or "loss of coordination."
• Informally, "the staggers" can be used hyperbolically to describe extreme dizziness or unsteadiness in a person, often due to shock, illness, or intoxication.
  • The shocking news gave me the staggers.

Variants and Related Words

• Stagger (verb): To walk or move unsteadily, as if about to fall.
  • The exhausted hiker staggered into camp.
• Staggering (adjective): 1. Deeply shocking or astonishing. 2. Walking unsteadily.
  • The cost was staggering. (Astonishing)
  • A staggering drunk. (Unsteady)

Synonyms

• Noun (for the symptom): Reeling, tottering, lurching, unsteadiness, ataxia.
• Noun (for the disease): Cerebellar ataxia, blind staggers (a specific form).

Related Phrases

• To have the staggers: To be suffering from this condition or symptom.
  • That horse looks like it has the staggers; call the vet.

Học thuật

Noun

1. a disease of the central nervous system affecting especially horses and cattle; characterized by an unsteady swaying gait and frequent falling

Từ đồng nghĩa

• blind staggers