Definition of "dropsy" [drop•sy]

• Edema. No longer in scientific use. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "I have seen in dropsy, and in some fevers; but it is also observable, that many who have exerted much voluntary effort during their whole lives, have continued active to great age."
• "Jesus was on the watch as well, having noticed a man who had a condition known as dropsy."
• "For sentiment is like another complaint mentioned by Horace, as increasing by self-indulgence (I am sorry to say, ladies, that the complaint in question is called the dropsy), and the more you cry, the more you will be able and desirous to do so."