water brash en · NOUN
Etymology
From water + brash.
Meanings
-
(uncountable) Excessive salivation coupled with varying degrees of regurgitation into the esophagus, resulting in upper gastrointestinal symptoms such as heartburn (as the regurgitated stomach contents are typically acidic).
PYROSIS. This disease is more frequently called water brash and sometimes heart burn. It is characterized by the raising of a hot acrid fluid into the throat, causing a sensation of burning from the stomach upward, even to the mouth. It is a very frequent attendant upon many forms of dyspepsia[…]
1849, Frederick Hollick, M.D., The Matron's Manual Of Midwifery, New York: T. W. Strong:Pyrosis is, in a minor degree, a very common attendant on various forms of dyspepsia; but in some instances it is itself so urgent and distressing, presenting itself as so prominent a feature of gastric malady, that it throws most of the other well-known symptoms into the shade, so as to claim the painful attention of the sufferer and the special observation of the practitioner. Hence it has acquired a distinct place in Nosology; and hence it is, that in common parlance it is distinguished by the term water-brash or water-qualm.
1841 April, Thomas West, M.D., A Treatise on Pyrosis Idiopathica Or Water Brash, London: Longman, Orme, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →PMID, archived from the original on 26 May 2015, page 1:Hypersalivation with heartburn, commonly referred to as waterbrash, may be a protective response to gastroesophageal reflux.
1986 June, James F. Helm, M.D., “Esophageal Acid Clearance”, in Journal of Clinical Gastroenterology, volume 8, Supplement 1, New York: Raven Press, Inc., →DOI, →PMID, page 5:“water brash”, in TheFreeDictionary.com, Huntingdon Valley, Pa.: Farlex, Inc., 2003–2026, sourced from The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th edition, Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2016, →ISBN, retrieved 25 Oct 2024: “Regurgitation of watery acid from the stomach.”
- (Scotland, uncountable) Heartburn.