Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Cancer
Can′cer
,Noun.
1.
(Zool.)
A genus of decapod Crustacea, including some of the most common shore crabs of Europe and North America, as the rock crab, Jonah crab, etc. See
Crab
. 2.
(Astron.)
(a)
The fourth of the twelve signs of the zodiac. The first point is the northern limit of the sun’s course in summer; hence, the sign of the summer solstice. See
Tropic
. (b)
A northern constellation between Gemini and Leo.
3.
(Med.)
Formerly, any malignant growth, esp. one attended with great pain and ulceration, with cachexia and progressive emaciation. It was so called, perhaps, from the great veins which surround it, compared by the ancients to the claws of a crab. The term is now restricted to such a growth made up of aggregations of epithelial cells, either without support or embedded in the meshes of a trabecular framework.
☞ Four kinds of cancers are recognized: (1)
, in which there is no trabecular framework. See
, in which the framework predominates, and the tumor is of hard consistence and slow growth. (3) , , or , in which the cellular element predominates, and the tumor is soft, grows rapidy, and often ulcerates. (4) , in which the cancerous structure becomes gelatinous. The last three varieties are also called
Epithelial cancer
, or Epithelioma
Epithelioma
. (2) Scirrhous cancer
, or Hard cancer
Encephaloid cancer
Medullary cancer
Soft cancer
Colloid cancer
carcinoma
. Cancer cells
, cells once believed to be peculiar to cancers, but now know to be epithelial cells differing in no respect from those found elsewhere in the body, and distinguished only by peculiarity of location and grouping.
– Cancer root
(Bot.)
, the name of several low plants, mostly parasitic on roots, as the beech drops, the squawroot, etc.
– Tropic of Cancer
. See
Tropic
.Webster 1828 Edition
Cancer
CANCER
,Noun.
1.
The crab or crab-fish. This genus of animals have generally eight legs, and two claws which serve as hands; two distant eyes, supported by a kind of peduncles, and they are elongated and movable. They have also two clawed palpi, and the tail is jointed. To this genus belong the lobster, shrimp, cray-fish, &c.2.
In astronomy, one of the twelve signs of the zodiac, represented by the form of a crab, and limiting the suns course northward in summer; hence, the sign of the summer solstice.3.
In medicine, a roundish, hard, unequal, scirrous tumor of the glands, which usually ulcerates, is very painful, and generally fatal.