Definition of "ergotism" []

• Poisoning caused by consuming ergot-infected grain or grain products, or from excessive use of drugs containing ergot. (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 condition called ergotism or St. Anthony’s fire, common in medieval Europe, was caused by a mycotoxin produced by a mold that grew in rye bread."
• "Indeed Safire should be remembered, not only as a man passionate about language, but as a civil and urbane conservative who, I would like to believe, was as appalled by the current outbreak of right-wing political ergotism as am I."
• "Finally there are the everyday bits and pieces of life on earth in the new millennium — a smorgasbord of climate change, natural and unnatural disasters, the political ergotism presently infecting America, animal news, poetry, technology, good books and better gossip."