a. [ad. L. ulcerōs-us, f. ulcer-, ulcus ULCER sb. Hence also It., Sp., Pg. ulceroso, F. ulcéreux, -euse (1554), Da. ulceros.]
1. Of the nature of an ulcer or ulcers; forming a purulent sore.
1577. B. Googe, Heresbach’s Husb., III. (1586), 144. The vlcerous places must be nointed with Vinegar.
1592. Greene, Groat’s W. Wit (1617), 43. For my gluttony, I suffer hunger:… for my adulterie, vlcerous sores.
1603. Holland, Plutarch’s Mor., 97. Honie … being applied to a sore or ulcerous place, at the first doth smart and sting.
1607. Shaks., Timon, IV. iii. 39. Shee, whom the Spittle-house, and vlcerous sores, Would cast the gorge at.
1744. Berkeley, Siris, § 21. In obstructions and ulcerous erosions of the inward parts. Ibid. (1752), Th. Tar-water, Wks. 1871, III. 499. Good against ulcerous eruptions.
1789. A. Duncan, Mariner’s Chron. (1805), IV. 42. Their lips began to break out in watery and ulcerous blisters.
1834. J. Forbes, Laennec’s Dis. Chest (ed. 4), 279. The disease is curable … after the softening of the tubercles and the formation of an ulcerous excavation.
1897. Allbutt’s Syst. Med., III. 886. In some instances the foreign bodies had escaped from the appendix through the ulcerous openings they had made in its walls.
fig. 1601. [? Marston], Pasquil & Kath., v. 20. Why, now the vlcerous swelling of my hate Is broken forth.
1602. Marston, Antonio’s Rev., IV. iii. The polluting filth Of ulcerous sinne.
2. Afflicted with an ulcer or ulcers; exhibiting ulceration.
1599. B. Jonson, Ev. Man out of Hum., The Stage, 73. Euery seruile imitating spirit … striues to fling His vlc’rous body in the Thespian spring, And streight leaps forth a Poet.
1600. R. Cawdrey, Treasurie, 266. Scuruie, Scabbie, and vlcerous persons.
1605. Shaks., Macb., IV. iii. 151. Strangely visited people All swolne and Vlcerous … he cures.
1662. Hibbert, Body Divinity, I. 313. They observed … whether the bowels were of an unnatural colour, or ulcerous.
1899. Allbutt’s Syst. Med., VI. 105. Cavities resulting from their destruction present irregular, anfractuous, ragged and ulcerous walls.
absol. 1889. H. M. Stanley, in Stanley & Africa, xvii. (1890), 392. Assiduously dressing and trimming up the ulcerous ready for the march to Zanzibar.
b. fig. (Cf. ULCERATED ppl. a. 1 b.)
1611. Speed, Hist. Gt. Brit., IX. xvi. § 20. A weauer (the Bailiffe of the Towne) was the vlcerous head, to which that corruption gathered.
1643. Milton, Divorce, II. iii. Wks. 1851, IV. 65. Did God for this come down … to patch up an ulcerous and rott’n commonwealth with strict and stern injunctions?
1660. T. M., C. Walker’s Hist. Independ., IV. 22. Belching forth the scandalous language of their ulcerous tongues to incense the People.
1879. H. George, Progr. & Pov., X. v. (1881), 494. A just man would crush with his foot such an ulcerous ant-hill!
3. Developed in, proceeding from, ulcers.
1660. O. Sedgwick, in Spurgeon, Treas. David, Ps. xix. 12. Methinks sin is … like evil and ulcerous humours.
1718. Quincy, Compl. Disp., 121. Ulcerous Exudations, which by their loose situations are easily carried along with the Medicine.
1844. G. S. Faber, Eight Dissert. (1845), II. 311. By reason of some colouring ulcerous matter, the skin of the sufferer would pass through the different successive shades of dark red and lead colour and complete black.
4. Characteristic of, appropriate to, ulcers.
1641. in Rushw., Hist. Coll. (1692), III. I. 218. I cannot but admire how this … Body of Judicature should swell up into such a vast and ulcerous dimension.
c. 1720. W. Gibson, Farrier’s Dispens., III. xiv. (1721), 268/2. To dry up watry Corruptions, which create an ulcerous Disposition in the Legs.
1842. Tennyson, St. Sim. Styl., 13. Thrice ten years, Thrice multiplied by superhuman pangs,… In coughs,… ulcerous throes and cramps.
1896. Allbutt’s Syst. Med., I. 127. The development of ulcerous conditions when the process affects free surfaces.
5. = ULCERATED ppl. a. 3.
1751. Fothergill (title), Account of the Ulcerous Sore Throat.
1761. Phil. Trans., LII. 264. His disorder has been a malignant or ulcerous sore throat.
1859. Semple, Diphtheria, 84. Severe and obstinate ulcerous inflammations of the skin and mucous tissue.
1889. Duncan, Clin. Lect. Dis. Women (ed. 4), xxii. 189. A disease exactly resembling the acute ulcerous stomatitis of children.
Hence Ulcerously adv.; Ulcerousness.
1727. Bailey (Vol. II.), Ulcerousness, ulcerous State, Condition, or Quality.
1847. Webster, Ulcerously.
