Emily Dickinson Lexicon

RICK'ETS, n. [In technical language, rachia, Gr. ῥαχιτις from ῥαχις, back or spine, Eng. rack, applied to the neck piece of meat; Sp. raquitio, the rickets. See Rack and Ridge.]

A disease which affects children, and which is characterize by a bulky head, a crooked spine, depressed ribs, enlarged and spungy articular epiphyses, tumid abdomen, short stature, flabby and wrinkled flesh, together with clear and often premature mental faculties. – Good.