megrims

English

Noun

megrims

1. plural of megrim
2. Any of various diseases of animals, especially horses, marked by a disturbance of equilibrium and abnormal gait and behaviour such as staggers or a sudden vertigo, sometimes followed by unconsciousness; the staggers. [from 17th c.]
3. (usually with "the") Depression, low spirits, unhappiness. [from 16th c.]
   • 1766, George Colman & David Garrick, The Clandestine Marriage, Act iv, Scene 2.

     Thou art properly my cephalick ſnuff, and art no bad medicine againſt megrims, vertigoes, and profound thinking […]

   • 1960, P. G. Wodehouse, Jeeves in the Offing, chapter XIII:

     I'm not myself, of course, an idealistic girl in love with a member of the staff of the Thursday Review and never have been, but if I were I know I'd get the megrims somewhat severely if I caught [my fiancé] in a clinch with anyone as personable as this stepdaughter of Aubrey Upjohn, for though shaky on the IQ, physically she was a pipterino of the first water.

Anagrams

• gimmers, mergism