Forms: α. 5–6 colike, colyke, 6 collyke, collic, 6–7 collick(e, colicke, colique, 6–8 colick, (7 collect), 8– colic. β. (erron.) 7 chollick(e, cholicke, 7–9 cholick, 8–9 cholic. [a. F. colique, ad. L. colic-us, a. Gr. κολικ-ός of or pertaining to the κόλον (or κώλον), lower part of the intestinal canal. (The correct spelling was with ο, but app. all the MSS. have ω.) Although orig. an adj., the term appears to be first found in modern langs. as a sb. repr. med.L. colica (passio) ‘colic passion.’
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., V. xlii. (1495), 158. The sykenes that hyght Collica passio comyth of grete streightnesse of that gutte that highte Colon.]
A. sb.
1. A name given to severe paroxysmal griping pains in the belly, due to various affections of the bowels or other parts; also to the affections of which such pains are the characteristic symptom.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 87. Colyke, sekeness, collica passio.
1483. Cath. Angl., 71. Colike, colica passio.
c. 1515. Cocke Lorell’s B. (1843), 8. The coughe and the colyke.
1528. Paynel, Salerne’s Regim., C iij b. The colike … ingendreth in a gutte named colon.
1611. Coryat, Crudities, 405. The tertian and quartan ague, the itch, the cholicke.
1714. J. Purcell, Cholick, Index, How to distinguish any of these Cholicks from the Nephretick Cholick.
1740. R. Dundas, in Athenæum, 24 Sept. 1887, 401/1. It [the whey] gives me pretty smart colicks.
1866. A. Flint, Princ. Med. (1880), 537. The term colic, in its etymology, relates to the colon, but it is often applied to paroxysmal, spasmodic pain in other parts.
1870. Pall Mall Gaz., 27 Oct., 4/1. That curse of his trade the painter’s colic, a form of lead-poisoning due to the poisonous materials with which common paints are unnecessarily compounded.
2. Comb. colic-root, a name given to three North American medicinal plants, Aletris farinosa, Dioscorea villosa, and Liatris squarrosa; colic-water, some remedy for colic.
1771. Mackenzie, Man Feel. (1886), 23. The composition and virtues of her favourite cholic-water.
1866. Treas. Bot., 35. Aletris farinosa, called Colic root and Star grass…. It is one of the most intense bitters known.
B. adj.
1. Of or pertaining to the colon, as in Colic arteries, † Colic gut = COLON.
1615. Crooke, Body of Man, 99. A part of the collick gut.
a. 1646. J. Gregory, Learned Tracts, 103. An Ulcer of the Entrails … especially of the Cholick Gut.
1836. Todd, Cycl. Anat., I. 196/1. The colic arteries … form arches.
2. Affecting the colon; of, or of the nature of, colic; in colic passion = COLIC A. 1, colic pains, etc.
1586. T. B., La Primaud. Fr. Acad., I. (1594), 225. Sciaticke goutes, collicke passions.
a. 1619. Fotherby, Atheom., I. xv. § 2 (1622), 156. His intestines … grieuously tormented him with colique passions.
1667. Milton, P. L., XI. 484. Intestin Stone and Ulcer, Colic pangs.
1754–64. Smellie, Midwif., I. 149. The air … expands and stretches the colon, producing severe cholic pains.
1834. Good, Study Med. (ed. 4), I. 186. Stricture of the intestines … gives rise to colic pains.
