Gr. &?; cholera, fr. &?;, &?;, bile. See
Gall, and cf.
Cholera.]
1. The
bile; -- formerly supposed to be the seat and cause of
irascibility. [Obs.]
His [Richard Hooker's] complexion . . . was
sanguine, with a mixture of choler; and yet his motion was
slow.
I. Warton.
2. Irritation of the passions; anger;
wrath.
He is rash and very sudden in choler.
Shak.
Chol"er*a (?), n. [L., a bilious
disease. See Choler.] (Med.) One of several
diseases affecting the digestive and intestinal tract and more or
less dangerous to life, esp. the one commonly called Asiatic
cholera.
Asiatic cholera,
a malignant and rapidly
fatal disease, originating in Asia and frequently epidemic in the
more filthy sections of other lands, to which the germ or
specific poison may have been carried. It is characterized by
diarrhea, rice-water evacuations, vomiting, cramps, pinched
expression, and lividity, rapidly passing into a state of
collapse, followed by death, or by a stage of reaction of
fever. --
Cholera bacillus.
See
Comma bacillus. --
Cholera
infantum,
a dangerous summer disease, of infants,
caused by hot weather, bad air, or poor milk, and especially
fatal in large cities.
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