Empostume

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. An archaic term for a swelling or abscess that has filled with pus beneath the skin
2. An obsolete name for a boil-like sore containing a collection of festering matter
3. A old-fashioned word for an inflamed lump in the body that has become full of pus

Etymology: "Empostume" is an obsolete English spelling of "apostume," a word that now survives only as "imposthume," a variant of "apostume," which goes back to Old French "apostume" and Latin "apostema," from Greek "apostema," meaning "a separation" or "a standing away," from "aphistanai," "to stand away from." The idea was that pus gathered and separated from the surrounding flesh, forming a swelling or abscess. Medieval physicians used the term for any abscess or boil, and the word drifted in English through a series of spellings, including "impostume" and "imposteme," before largely falling out of use. Its later forms kept a connection to the idea of something swelling up inside the body, and the spelling "imposthume" was sometimes linked to "impost," though that connection is a later mistaken association rather than the true source.