Definition of "lupus" []

• Systemic lupus erythematosus. (noun)
• Any of various chronic skin conditions characterized by ulcerative lesions that spread over the body. 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.

• "The term lupus refers to three different autoimmune diseases: discoid, SLE, and drug-induced lupus."
• "If Canadians wanted to persecute their wolves, there was no need to ship them south; Canis lupus is sufficiently under siege in the "great white north," with provincial governments scapegoating wolves for everything from the precipitous decline of mountain caribou to the near-extinction of the Vancouver Island marmot."
• "While (to my knowledge) no-one doubts the idea that domestic dogs and wolves are close relatives, firm evidence showing that domestic dogs are nested within the species Canis lupus is lacking."