Crossword Dictionary

What's The Definition Of Wart?

\Wart\, n. [OE. werte, AS. wearte; akin to D. wrat, G. warze, OHG. warza, Icel. varta, Sw. v[*a]rta, Dan. vorte; perh. orig., a growth, and akin to E. wort; or cf. L. verruca wart.] 1. (Med.) A small, usually hard, tumor on the skin formed by enlargement of its vascular papill[ae], and thickening of the epidermis which covers them. 2. An excrescence or protuberance more or less resembling a true wart; specifically (Bot.), a glandular excrescence or hardened protuberance on plants. {Fig wart}, {Moist wart} (Med.), a soft, bright red, pointed or tufted tumor found about the genitals, often massed into groups of large size. It is a variety of condyloma. Called also {pointed wart}, {venereal wart}. --L. A. Duhring. {Wart cress} (Bot.), the swine's cress. See under {Swine}. {Wart snake} (Zo["o]l.), any one of several species of East Indian colubrine snakes of the genus {Acrochordus}, having the body covered with wartlike tubercles or spinose scales, and lacking cephalic plates and ventral scutes. {Wart spurge} (Bot.), a kind of wartwort ({Euphorbia Helioscopia}).