Pl. carcinomata. [L., a. Gr. καρκίνωμα (-ματ-), the disease cancer, f. καρκίνος crab; cf. CANCER.]
1. Med. The disease CANCER.
‘This word has been applied by authors in other ways. Indolent non-malignant tumors, [and] those forms only of cancer in which the structure resembles brain matter, have been thus called…. By some … restricted to the early stages only of cancer’ (Syd. Soc. Lex.).
1721. Bailey, Carcinoma, the Cancer before it comes to an Ulcer.
1751. Chambers, Cycl., Carcinoma, in medicine, a tumour more usually called a Cancer.
1805. Med. Jrnl., XIV. 83. Possessing a similar life with carcinoma, and multiplying in the same manner.
1878. T. Bryant, Pract. Surg., I. 99. Secondary carcinomata can only be produced by the direct propagation of the epithelial cells.
† 2. Med. A disease of the cornea. Obs.
1731. Bailey, Carcinoma … a Disease in the horny Coat of the Eye.
1753. Chambers, Cycl. Supp., Carcinoma is … used to denote a disorder of the tunica cornea of the eye, wherein the little veins of the part appear turgid and livid.
3. Bot. ‘A disease in trees when the bark separates, an acrid sap exuding and ulcerating the surrounding parts’ (Treas. Bot.).
