[f. ERGOT sb. + -ISM.]
1. The disease (in grasses) consisting in the formation of ergot.
1853. Pharmaceut. Jrnl., XIII. 13. Mr. Blyth drew attention to the subject of the ergotism of grasses.
2. The disease produced by eating bread made from flour affected by ergot.
1869. E. A. Parkes, Pract. Hygiene (ed. 3), 222. The most important disease connected with flour is … ergotism.
1876. Bartholow, Mat. Med. (1879), 289. Chronic ergotism … exists in two forms, the convulsive and gangrenous.
3. The use of ergot for poisoning animals.
1884. A. Willows, in Australasian, 8 Nov., 875/4. The special claims of ergotism … are its cheapness [etc.].
