Med. Also in L. form carphologia. [ad. Gr. καρφολογία (Galen), f. κάρφος twig, straw, bit of wool + λέγειν to collect.] The movements of delirious patients, as if searching for or grasping at imaginary objects, or picking the bed-clothes; floccilation.
1851. in Mayne, Expos. Lex.
1866. A. Flint, Princ. Med. (1880), 703. Subsultus, carphologia, and fumbling with the bed-clothes are frequent symptoms.
1881. Glasgow Med. Jrnl., Feb., 164 When carphology has given place to a mere trembling of the fingers.
