Liberal Dictionary English Dictionary
noun Pathology.
- any disorder of the extremities or back, characterized by pain and stiffness.
- rheumatic fever.
noun
- any painful disorder of joints, muscles, or connective tissueCompare arthritis, fibrositis
c.1600, from Late Latin rheumatismus, from Greek rheumatismos, from rheumatizein “suffer from the flux,” from rheuma “a discharge from the body” (see rheum). “The meaning of a disease of the joints is first recorded in 1688, because rheumatism was thought to be caused by an excessive flow of rheum into a joint thereby stretching ligaments” [Barnhart].
n.
- Any of several pathological conditions of the muscles, tendons, joints, bones, or nerves, characterized by discomfort and disability.
- Rheumatoid arthritis.