gout
    n 1: a painful inflammation of the big toe and foot caused by
         defects in uric acid metabolism resulting in deposits of
         the acid and its salts in the blood and joints [syn:
         gout, gouty arthritis, urarthritis]

Gout \Gout\ (gout), n. [F. goutte a drop, the gout, the disease
   being considered as a defluxion, fr. L. gutta drop.]
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   1. A drop; a clot or coagulation.
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            On thy blade and dudgeon gouts of blood. --Shak.
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   2. (Med.) A constitutional disease, occurring by paroxysms.
      It consists in an inflammation of the fibrous and
      ligamentous parts of the joints, and almost always attacks
      first the great toe, next the smaller joints, after which
      it may attack the greater articulations. It is attended
      with various sympathetic phenomena, particularly in the
      digestive organs. It may also attack internal organs, as
      the stomach, the intestines, etc. It is an inherited
      disease of purine metaboism, which causes an increased
      level of uric acid in the blood, and leads to deposition
      of crystals of sodium urate in cartilage within joints and
      in connective tissue. It can be alleviated by a diet low
      in purines, and is treated by drugs which block formation
      of uric acid. --Dunglison.
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   3. A disease of cornstalks. See Corn fly, under Corn.
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   Gout stones. See Chalkstone, n., 2.
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Gout \Go[^u]t\ (g[=oo]), n. [F., fr. L. gustus taste. See
   Gusto.]
   Taste; relish.
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GOUT, med. jur. contracts. An inflammation of the fibrous and ligamentous 
parts of the joints. 
     2. In cases of insurance on lives, when there is warranty of health, it 
seems that a man subject to the gout, is a life capable of being, insured, 
if he has no sickness at the time to make it an unequal contract. 2 Park, 
Ins. 583. 

GOUT, n.  A physician's name for the rheumatism of a rich patient.