Emily Dickinson Lexicon

MEA-SLES, n. [mee'zles; with a plural termination. G. maser, a spot; masig, measled; D. mazelen; from sprinkling or from mixing. Class Ms, No. 14, 15.]

1. A contagious disease of the human body, usually characterized by a crimson rash upon the skin in stigmatized dots, grouped in irregular circles or crescents; appearing about the third day, and terminating about the seventh; preceded by symptoms like catarrh, and accompanied by a constitutional febrile affection, which is either a synochus, or an exquisite typhus.
2. A disease of swine. B. Jonson.
3. A disease of trees. Mortimer.