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The quality of being knotty or nodose; resemblance to a node or swelling; knottiness. Holland.

A swelling from effusion of watery fluid in the cellular tissue beneath the skin or mucous membrance; dropsy of the subcutaneous cellular tissue. [Written also edema.]

To exceed in swelling.

Wordsworth. Phantom ship. See Flying Dutchman, under Flying. -- Phantom tumor (Med.), a swelling, especially of the abdomen, due to muscular spasm, accumulation of flatus, etc., simulating an actual tumor in appearance, but disappearing upon the administration of an anæsthetic.

The small, troublesome tumors or swellings about the anus and lower part of the rectum which are technically called hemorrhoids. See Hemorrhoids.

Fig.: A swelling or protuberance like a pimple. "A pimple that portends a future sprout." Cowper.

egister of persons entitled to vote at an election. -- Poll evil (Far.), an inflammatory swelling or abscess on a horse's head, confined beneath the great ligament of the neck. -- Poll pick (Mining), a pole having a heavy spike on the end, forming a kind of crowbar. -- Poll tax, a tax levied by the head, or poll; a…

pse of the mucous coat of the rectum, from relaxation of the sphincter, with more or less swelling; prolapsus ani. Dunglison.

That which is protuberant swelled or pushed beyond the surrounding or adjacent surface; a swelling or tumor on the body; a prominence; a bunch or knob; an elevation. Solar protuberances (Astron.), certain rose-colored masses on the limb of the sun which are seen to extend beyond the edge of the moon at the time of a so…

Prominent, or excessively prominent; bulging beyond the surrounding or adjacent surface; swelling; as, a protuberant joint; a protuberant eye. -- Pro*tu"ber*ant*ly, adv.

The act of swelling beyond the surrounding surface. Cooke (1615).

To breathe in a swelling, inflated, or pompous manner; hence, to assume importance. Then came brave Glory puffing by. Herbert.

throat, or parts adjacent, especially of the fauces or tonsils, attended by considerable swelling, painful and impeded deglutition, and accompanied by inflammatory fever. It sometimes creates danger of suffocation; -- called also squinancy, and squinzey.

Pertaining to, or designating, a swelling under the tongue; also, pertaining to the region where the swelling occurs; -- applied especially to branches of the lingual artery and lingual vein.

Increase of sound; a swelling of the voice. The ordinary rises and falls of the voice. Bacon.

e Diptera. It fixes its proboscis in the skin of the sheep and sucks the blood, leaving a swelling. Called also sheep pest, and sheep louse. -- Sheep walk, a pasture for sheep; a sheep run. -- Wild sheep. (Zoöl.) See Argali, Mouflon, and Oörial.

An affection of cereal grains producing a swelling which is at length resolved into a powdery sooty mass. It is caused by parasitic fungi of the genus Ustilago. Ustilago segetum, or U. Carbo, is the commonest kind; that of Indian corn is Ustilago maydis.

A disease of horses characterized by a bony swelling developed on the hock as the result of inflammation of the bones; also, the swelling itself. The resulting lameness is due to the inflammation, and not the bony tumor as popularly supposed. Harbaugh. Bog spavin, a soft swelling produced by distention of the capsular…

is cleft at its lower portion, and the membranes of the spinal cord project as an elastic swelling from the gap thus formed.

A swelling or other disease in a plant, occasioned by a ligature fastened tightly about it.