mumps

[ muhmps ]

noun(used with a singular verb)Pathology.
  1. an infectious disease characterized by inflammatory swelling of the parotid and usually other salivary glands, and sometimes by inflammation of the testes or ovaries, caused by a paramyxovirus.

Origin of mumps

1
First recorded in 1590–1600; mump1 + -s3

Words Nearby mumps

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use mumps in a sentence

  • It is the family of man—because where measles and mumps and pertussis are concerned, we are all connected.

  • mumps can be a serious and a very painful disease and it is infectious to a marked degree.

  • One evening, he saw her again in the theatre with 'mumps,' as she called her husband.

    The Child of Pleasure | Gabriele D'Annunzio
  • She laughed and called to mumps to come and unfasten her veil.

    The Child of Pleasure | Gabriele D'Annunzio
  • One is called away in the middle of a dance to a difficult case of—of mumps or something, and—well, there you are.

    Happy Days | Alan Alexander Milne
  • It was like toothache or mumps or chicken-pox, an ignoble, complaint of which one is ashamed, but before which one is helpless.

    The Honorable Percival | Alice Hegan Rice

British Dictionary definitions for mumps

mumps

/ (mʌmps) /


noun
  1. (functioning as singular or plural) an acute contagious viral disease of the parotid salivary glands, characterized by swelling of the affected parts, fever, and pain beneath the ear: usually affects children: Also called: epidemic parotitis

Origin of mumps

1
C16: from mump 1 (to grimace)

Derived forms of mumps

  • mumpish, adjective

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Scientific definitions for mumps

mumps

[ mŭmps ]


  1. An infectious disease caused by a virus of the family Paramyxoviridae and the genus Rubulavirus, characterized by swelling of the salivary glands, especially the parotid glands, and sometimes of the pancreas, testes, or ovaries. Vaccinations, usually given in early childhood, confer immunity to mumps.

The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Cultural definitions for mumps

mumps

An acute and contagious disease marked by fever and inflammation of the salivary glands. Caused by a virus, mumps is normally a childhood disease that passes with no aftereffects.

Notes for mumps

A child who has had mumps is immune from further infection by the mumps virus.

The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.