a. and sb. Also 7–8 lymphatick, (8 limphatic). [ad. L. lymphātic-us mad, frenzied, f. lympha LYMPH. In mod. scientific Latin the word has been used in the sense ‘pertaining to lymph’ (the ending having been prob. misapprehended to be identical with that of spermatic, etc.); so F. lymphatique, It. linfatico.
The classical Lat. word is difficult to account for; perh. it may be due to the association of lympha with νὐμφη (see LYMPH); cf. Gr. νυμφιᾶν to be frenzy-stricken.]
A. adj.
† I. 1. Frenzied, mad. Obs.
1656. Blount, Glossogr.
1711. Shaftesb., Charac. (1737), I. 51. Poets are fanaticks too. And thus Horace either is, or feigns himself lymphatick, and shews what an effect the vision of the nymphs and Bacchus had on him.
1727. Bailey, vol. II., Lymphatick Persons.
1822. S. Burder, Orient. Lit., I. 120. The frog, like the tortoise and crocodile, was an emblem … of lymphatic prophecy.
II. In senses connected with LYMPH.
2. a. Phys. and Anat. Pertaining to lymph; concerned in the secretion or conveyance of lymph, as in lymphatic gland, vessel; lymphatic system, the lymphatic vessels and glands collectively; lymphatic heart = lymph-heart. Also, of the nature of lymph, as in lymphatic fluid, humour (? obs.).
1649. Evelyn, Mem. (1857), I. 257. Came to visit me Dr. Ioyliffe, discoverer of the lymphatic vessels, and an excellent anatomist.
1663. Boyle, Usef. Exp. Nat. Philos., II. V. x. 224. The late anatomical discoveries of the motion of the chyle and limphatick liquor … hath yet made men cure diseases much better than before.
1732. Arbuthnot, Rules of Diet, 428. In the serous part of the Blood affecting the lymphatick Arteries.
1747. trans. Astruc’s Fevers, 351. A lymphatic or lacteal humour and the blood circulate from the mother into the placenta and fœtus.
1804. Abernethy, Surg. Obs., 34. Perhaps originating in lymphatic glands.
1830. R. Knox, Béclard’s Anat., 213. The Lymphatic System comprehends, 1st, the vessels which carry the lymph and chyle into the veins, and 2dly, Enlargements which occur in their course, and which are called conglobate glands, or lymphatic ganglia.
1870. Rolleston, Anim. Life, Introd. 59. Upon their junction with the veins of this latter region, contractile sacs, the so-called ‘lymphatic hearts,’ are developed.
1899. Allbutt’s Syst. Med., VI. 457. Growth of this kind should be called … lymphatic gland sarcoma.
† b. Bot. Containing or conveying sap. Obs.
1672–3. Grew, Anat. Plants, II. iii. (1682), 69. Whence it should seem that Lymphatick Rays and Milky Rings are in that Root [Dandelion] so far mixed together.
1836. Loudon, Encycl. Plants, Gloss., Lymphatic, of or belonging to lymph or sap.
3. Of persons and their temperaments: Having the characteristics (flabby muscles, pale skin, sluggishness of vital and mental action) formerly supposed to result from an excess of lymph in the system.
1834. J. Forbes, Laennec’s Dis. Chest (ed. 4), 319. In … persons of a lymphatic habit, the skin becomes white.
1858. Hawthorne, Fr. & It. Note-Bks., II. 31. A widow … of an easy, lymphatic, cheerful temperament.
1859. G. Meredith, R. Feverel, xxxv. With lymphatic approbation.
1872. Huxley, Physiol., iii. 72. Persons of flabby, or what is called lymphatic constitution.
1885. Truth, 28 May, 850/2. Her flesh being … lymphatic, and her outlines wanting in firmness.
B. sb.
† 1. A lunatic, a madman. (See A. 1.) Obs.
1708. Shaftesb., Charac. (1711), I. 50. All Nations have their Lymphaticks of some kind or another.
a. 1763. Shenstone, Elegies, xvi. 34. From Bethlem’s walls the poor lymphatic stray’d.
2. Chiefly pl. Vessels similar to veins, whose special function is the conveyance of lymph. † Also applied to the sap-vessels in plants. Obs.
1667. Phil. Trans., II. 509. The trunk of the Lymphaticks.
1707. Floyer, Physic. Pulse-Watch, 145. The Tumour … breaks the Limphatics which abound near the Liver.
1768. Hewson, in Phil. Trans., LVIII. 219. Into this lymphatic some small branches from the kidneys seem to enter.
1826. Good, Bk. Nat. (1834), I. 164. Like the perfect plant, it possesses lymphatics and air-vessels.
1881. Mivart, Cat, 349. The small lymphatics originate by the junction of nucleated cells.
