α. 1900s– allergy.
β. 1900s allergeia, 1900s allergia.
allergyn.
/ˈalədʒi/, U.S. /ˈælərdʒi/ 1. Medicine.
a. Originally: altered immunological reactivity to a foreign antigen following previous exposure to it. In later use: spec. an abnormal form of such altered reactivity (hypersensitivity) which causes damage to tissue and results in disorders such as hay fever, asthma, and eczema. Also (more widely): intolerance of or adverse reaction to a specific substance, esp. a food.The most common disorders resulting from allergy include rhinitis, asthma, eczema, and urticaria; systemic anaphylaxis is its most serious manifestation. Immunologically, these are classed as type I hypersensitivity reactions, involving the interaction of an allergen with IgE antibody, resulting in activation of mast cells and release of physiologically active substances such as histamine and serotonin.food allergy: see food n. Compounds 2.
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the world > health and disease > ill health > a disease > disorders of internal organs > disordered sensation > [noun] > allergy
allergy1908
1907 Jrnl. Amer. Med. Assoc. 19 Jan. 272/1 ‘Alexin’ and ‘cytase’ are synonyms, and ‘allergie’ represents the extra-sensitiveness to a reaction, as, for instance, the sensitiveness of the tuberculous to tuberculin.]
1908 Lancet 4 Jan. 61/2 The basis of this reaction is the ‘allergeia’—that is to say, the changed capability of the organism with reference to reaction.
1911 C. E. von Pirquet in Arch. Internal Med. 7 260 We might rightly use the word ‘allergy’..as a clinical conception.
1913 W. B. Christopherson tr. H. Sahli Tuberculin Treatm. 133 According to Wolff-Eisner, this is the cause of the increased capacity of the organism for reaction to the toxin of the foreign albumin after repeated injections, the ‘allergia’ of von Pirquet.
1926 Sci. Monthly Jan. 22/1 It is true that some people have an idiosyncrasy towards certain foods. We will soon speak of idiosyncrasy as food allergy.
1959 Which? Sept. 116/2 The person who is specifically sensitive to some article of food—for instance, shellfish—may make himself very ill after only a mouthful. This is true allergy.
1969 V. Nabokov Ada i. x. 61 A sudden flood of tears (maybe some allergy to flat dry old flowers, an attack of hayfever, or gentianitis, as a slightly later diagnosis might have shown).
1990 Here's Health Dec. 29/4 So being an holistic practitioner I visited a clinic of complementary medicine and had myself scientifically tested for allergy to many substances, including mercury.
2004 J. Playfair Living with Germs (2007) vii. 179 A skin rash does not always mean infection: many rashes are due to allergy, drugs, or other causes.
b. An instance of allergy to a particular substance (frequently specified by preceding word). Also (more generally): an intolerance of a food or other substance.
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1916 Marion (Ohio) Star 1 Apr. 6/7 (heading) Allergies.
1929 Preschool & Parental Educ. (National Soc. Study of Educ.) ii. ii. 774 Apparent food allergies or difficulties in feeding may help to explain later physical defects or disturbances.
1946 J. V. Sherman & S. L. Sherman New Fibers 56 Cases of so-called ‘nylon dermatitis,’ or ‘an allergy to nylon,’ are attributed to contact with finishing materials.
1954 E. Taylor Hester Lilly 139 She taught her family to reverence her allergies and foibles and they were constantly discussed.
1977 Lancet 24 Dec. 1330/2 It is common knowledge that exacerbations of acne and skin allergies occur during the premenstruum.
1996 F. Popcorn & L. Marigold Clicking ii. 133 A staff of holistic therapists doing hands-on stuff from shiatsu to food allergies to yoga.
2007 Belfast Tel. (Nexis) 19 Jan. 11 Teenagers with a nut allergy are particularly at risk.
2. figurative. Sensitivity or antipathy, esp. to something or someone; an instance of this. Cf. allergic adj. 2b.
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the mind > emotion > hatred > feeling against or a settled dislike > [noun]
despitec1400
eelist1552
antipathy1606
dislike1608
aversion1622
averseness1623
reclination1678
indisposition1702
allergy1916
1916 Marion (Ohio) Star 1 Apr. 6/7 Serious allergies that produce red welts and angry eruptions on the morale.
1951 A. Koestler Age of Longing 186 The European public..had developed a violent allergy to all kinds of rationing, saving and public-spirited exhortation.
1973 V. C. Ike Potter's Wheel (1974) xviii. 148 He had rushed back to his house..to close up his ‘I don't care’ hair parting, lest the visiting Education Officer was the conservative type who had an allergy to contemporary hair styles.
1992 Empire Apr. 24/1 Tough customers with an allergy to whimsy should steer well clear of Hear My Song.
2005 Guardian 11 Apr. i. 3/1 Ever since the chancellor eschewed white tie for his Mansion House speech in 1997, politicians seem to have developed an allergy to over-frilly get-up.
Compounds
General attributive, as allergy medicine, allergy symptom, allergy test, etc.
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1916 Marion (Ohio) Star 1 Apr. 6/7 The allergy hunters.
1933 Jrnl. Allergy 4 126 The work you are doing in the allergy clinics is health work and not bedside work.
1938 Amer. Jrnl. Surg. 42 175/2 The dietary treatment of chronic sinusitis..entails first, an allergy test.
1950 Sci. News Let. 4 Nov. 293/1 Asthmatics and other allergy sufferers..may be helped from the discovery of a gland chemical now called cortisone.
1965 Bryologist 68 117 Softwoods have very rarely been observed to produce positive allergy tests.
1977 D. Mayleas Rewedded Bliss iv. 58 Let them do some arithmetic. It will startle them to see how food and roller skates and allergy shots can add up.
1995 Time 8 May 17 (advt.) Do you need an allergy medicine that unstuffs your nose?
2004 Marysville (Ohio) Jrnl.-Tribune 17 Sept. c1/1 Ragweed is not the only weed that can cause fall allergy symptoms.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2009; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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n.1908