Apostume

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A localized swelling in the body that is filled with pus, typically caused by infection, as an archaic term for an abscess
2. An old medical name for a boil-like collection of pus that forms beneath the skin or in an organ during infection
3. Archaic term for a pus-filled abscess, a swollen lump in flesh that gathers matter as the result of inflammation

Etymology: The Greek "apostema" meant a gathering of matter that had moved away from its proper place: the root is "aphistanai" style movement, and the word for an abscess grew out of the idea of something that had stood apart or separated. In Greek medicine, a "apostema" was the swelling produced when fluid or pus collected under the skin, and the verb "apostellō" ("to send away, to remove") gave the sense of humours being driven out of the body into a single spot. The word passed into Late Latin as "apostēma" and then into Old French as "aposteme," before reaching Middle English in the sense of "a swelling, inflammation." English speakers kept the medical meaning for centuries, and "apostume" is the older English spelling that survived in medical and literary writing until it fell out of use.

Synonyms: abscess, boil, tumor