Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Poisoning caused by consuming ergot-infected grain or grain products, or from excessive use of drugs containing ergot.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A logical inference; a conclusion.
  • noun The spur of rye; ergot.
  • noun The morbid state induced by the excessive ingestion of ergot, as from the use of spurred or ergoted rye as food. Spasmodic and gangrenous forms are distinguished.
  • noun Logical reasoning; ratiocination.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun obsolete A logical deduction.
  • noun (Med.) A diseased condition produced by eating rye affected with the ergot fungus.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun The effect of long-term ergot poisoning, traditionally due to the ingestion of the alkaloids produced by the Claviceps purpurea fungus which infects rye and other cereals, and more recently by the action of a number of ergoline-based drugs.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun poisoning by ingestion of ergot-infected grain products; characterized by thirst and diarrhea and nausea and cramping and vomiting and abnormal cardiac rhythms; in severe cases it can cause seizures and gangrene of the limbs

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

ergot +‎ -ism

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Examples

  • The condition called ergotism or St. Anthony’s fire, common in medieval Europe, was caused by a mycotoxin produced by a mold that grew in rye bread.

    HOME COMFORTS CHERYL MENDELSON 2005

  • The condition called ergotism or St. Anthony’s fire, common in medieval Europe, was caused by a mycotoxin produced by a mold that grew in rye bread.

    HOME COMFORTS CHERYL MENDELSON 2005

  • The condition called ergotism or St. Anthony’s fire, common in medieval Europe, was caused by a mycotoxin produced by a mold that grew in rye bread.

    HOME COMFORTS CHERYL MENDELSON 2005

  • The condition called ergotism or St. Anthony’s fire, common in medieval Europe, was caused by a mycotoxin produced by a mold that grew in rye bread.

    HOME COMFORTS CHERYL MENDELSON 2005

  • Indeed Safire should be remembered, not only as a man passionate about language, but as a civil and urbane conservative who, I would like to believe, was as appalled by the current outbreak of right-wing political ergotism as am I.

    Archive 2009-09-01 2009

  • Finally there are the everyday bits and pieces of life on earth in the new millennium — a smorgasbord of climate change, natural and unnatural disasters, the political ergotism presently infecting America, animal news, poetry, technology, good books and better gossip.

    Archive 2009-12-01 2009

  • But there appears to be no precedent at all for the current outbreak of political ergotism.

    Archive 2009-09-01 2009

  • I have a book on poisons that suggests that the Black Death may have been brought on by immunocompromisation due to widespread ergotism that year...

    seanan_mcguire: 100 Books That Rocked My World, 2009 Edition. seanan_mcguire 2009

  • Indeed Safire should be remembered, not only as a man passionate about language, but as a civil and urbane conservative who, I would like to believe, was as appalled by the current outbreak of right-wing political ergotism as am I.

    The language maven: William Safire, 1929-2009 2009

  • But there appears to be no precedent at all for the current outbreak of political ergotism.

    More GOP Obama Derangement Syndrome 2009

Comments

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  • "St. Vitus' Dance"

    December 21, 2006

  • See St. Anthony's Fire

    January 27, 2008

  • Also an annoying tendency to bandy about ones own deductions.

    June 28, 2008

  • Hah! Excellent, Asa!

    June 28, 2008

  • See examples under ergotisms.

    April 12, 2011

  • From The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia:

    "n. The spur of rye; ergot.

    n. The morbid state induced by the excessive ingestion of ergot, as from the use of spurred or ergoted rye as food. Spasmodic and gangrenous forms are distinguished.

    n. A logical inference; a conclusion.

    n. Logical reasoning; ratiocination."

    November 20, 2018