Mea"sles, n.; pl. in form, but used as singular in senses 1, 2, & 3.
[D. mazelen; akin to G. masern, pl., and E. mazer, and orig. meaning,
little spots. See Mazer.]
1. (Med.) A contagious febrile disorder commencing with catarrhal
symptoms, and marked by the appearance on the third day of an eruption
of distinct red circular spots, which coalesce in a crescentic form,
are slightly raised above the surface, and after the fourth day of the
eruption gradually decline; rubeola.
Measles commences with the ordinary symptoms of fever.
Am. Cyc.
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2. (Veter. Med.) A disease of cattle and swine in which the flesh is
filled with the embryos of different varieties of the tapeworm.