Dictionary

tumefaction en · NOUN

Etymology

From Latin tumefaciō. Compare French tuméfaction.

Meanings

1. (countable, uncountable) The process or result of tumefying, swelling, or rising into a tumour.
   • Tumefaction, (lat[in]) a cauſing to ſwell. [1658, Edward Phillips, compiler, “Tumefaction”, in The New World of English Words: Or, A General Dictionary: […], London: […] E. Tyler, for Nath[aniel] Brook […], →OCLC, column 1:
   • The livid tumefaction spread over the leg, with blisters here and there, whence there oozed a black liquid. Matters were taking a serious turn. 1886, Gustave Flaubert, chapter 11, in Eleanor Marx-Aveling, transl., Madame Bovary, New York: Knopf, published 1919, page 226:
   • 1731, John Arbuthnot, An Essay concerning the Nature of Aliments, London: J. Tonson, Chapter 6, Prop. 2, p. 152, The common Signs and Effects of weak Fibres are Paleness, Smoothness, Coldness of the Skin, Colour of the Blood not Florid (for what maketh that is a strong action of the Solids) a weak Pulse, Tumefactions in the whole Body or Parts, Stagnation of Humours […]
   • Uttering these words, she squeezed my hand, which was now entwined with hers a scant millimeter from the straining tumefaction in my lap […]. 1979, William Styron, chapter 7, in Sophie’s Choice, New York: Bantam, published 1983, page 209:

Forms

Relateds

tumid · tumescence · tumour