a. [ad. L. varicōs-us (hence It., Sp., and Pg. varicoso), f. varic- VARIX: see -OSE.]
1. Path. or Med. Affected with, characterized by, of the nature of, a varix or varices.
1730. Bailey, Varicose, that hath the Veins puffed up and swoln more than ordinary with corrupt Blood.
1770. Med. Observ. (1772), IV. 377. Two Letters on the Varicose Aneurysm, from Mr. W. White, Surgeon at York, to W. Hunter.
1808. Barclay, Muscular Motions, 234. Cases of disease where the distension of these veins had … produced … that unseemly appearance which is termed varicose.
1826. S. Cooper, First Lines Surg. (ed. 5), 180. The use of the knife, and of ligatures for the cure of varicose ulcers.
1843. Penny Cycl., XXVI. 185. Varicose affection of the veins of the spermatic cord constitutes the disease named varicocele.
1880. Bastian, Brain, 32. They then not unfrequently assume an irregular or varicose appearance.
b. Of veins: Unnaturally swollen or dilated.
‘When a vein becomes varicose, it has a blue colour, becomes dilated, knotty, and irregular, and winds in a serpentine manner under the skin’ (1835 Cyclop. Pract. Med., IV. 445).
1797. M. Baillie, Morb. Anat. (1807), 357. When the enlargement of the veins is very considerable, they also become varicose.
1807. Med. Jrnl., XVII. 299. I have met with many instances of varicose veins on this island.
1844. G. Bird, Urin. Dep. (1857), 403. She had morning sickness, and the veins of her lower extremities were varicose.
1884. M. Mackenzie, Dis. Throat & Nose, II. 56. The patient had varicose veins of the gullet.
fig. 1846. Landor, Imag. Conv., Wks. I. 74. Milton has … not a sinew sharp or rigid, not a vein varicose or inflated.
1864. Sala, in Temple Bar, Feb., 337. The responsibility of originating these varicose veins in the limbs of a fair city.
2. Ent. and Bot. Unusually enlarged or swollen; resembling a varix.
1826. Kirby & Sp., Entomol., IV. xl. 103. These [bile-vessels] by Malpighi and the earlier physiologists … were denominated varicose vessels. Ibid., xlvi. 340. Varicose,… when the nervures are disproportionably swelled in any part.
1882. Vines, trans. Sachs’ Bot., 468. The bordering cells project into the canal like varicose hairs.
3. Of appliances: Designed or used for the treatment of varicose veins.
1858. Simmonds, Dict. Trade, Varicose-stockings, elastic or bandaged stockings for giving pressure and support to swelled veins in the legs.
Hence Varicosed ppl. a.
1891. in Cent. Dict.
1900. Brit. Med. Jrnl., No. 2040. 248. I now saw a bright red varicosed papilla.
