Pickwickian syndrome

or Pickwick syndrome

noun

, Pathology.

1. an abnormality characterized by extreme obesity accompanied by sleepiness, hypoventilation, and polycythemia.

Word History and Origins

Origin of Pickwickian syndrome¹

First recorded in 1955–60; named for Joe, a character in Dickens' The Pickwick Papers who exhibited symptoms of the disorder

Example Sentences

With a literary flourish, they named the condition Pickwickian syndrome after a character who falls asleep standing up in Charles Dickens’s first novel, The Pickwick Papers.

From Slate