Definition of "mumps" []

• An acute, inflammatory, contagious disease caused by a paramyxovirus and characterized by swelling of the salivary glands, especially the parotids, and sometimes of the pancreas, ovaries, or testes. This disease, mainly affecting children, can be prevented by vaccination. (noun-plural)

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 chipmunk-like appearance of people infected with mumps is how mumps got its name."
• "An outbreak of mumps is sweeping across Iowa, the first in nearly 20 years, and it's puzzling health officials and worrying parents."
• "It is as if the little boy had been taught to believe that by never saying the word mumps, he could save his playmate from tumefying glands."