Succumb
To lose the will to oppose something or to give up and accept something that you first opposed. In the context of illness, to succumb to an illness is to stop opposing it, to no longer battle it, but to die from it. Succumbing, like passing, has become a euphemism (an inoffensive substitute) for dying.
As with many of our words, succumb came from Latin via France. In Latin “succumbere” means to fall down or yield. The French “succomber” crossed the Channel in the 1400s but the euphemistic sense of succumb as yielding to a disease dates only to about 1800.
Read Also:
- Suction-assisted lipectomy
Another name for liposuction, the surgical removal of fat deposits from specific parts of the body, the most common being the abdomen (the “tummy”), buttocks (“behind”), hips, thighs and knees, chin, upper arms, back, and calves. The technique breaks up and “sucks” fat out of the body through a cannula (a hollow instrument) inserted subdermally […]
- Sudden cardiac arrest
A medical emergency with absent or inadequate contraction of the left ventricle of the heart that immediately causes bodywide circulatory failure. The signs and symptoms include loss of consciousness; rapid shallow breathing progressing to apnea (absence of breathing); profoundly low blood pressure (hypotension) with no pulses that can be felt over major arteries; and no […]
- Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS)
The sudden and unexpected death of a baby with no known illness, typically affecting sleeping infants between the ages of two weeks to six months. Infants with a brother or sister who died of SIDS; babies whose mothers used heroin, methadone, or cocaine during pregnancy; infants born weighing less than 4.4 pounds; children with an […]
- Sudoriferous gland
The sudoriferous (sweat) glands are small tubular structures situated within and under the skin (in the subcutaneous tissue). They discharge sweat by tiny openings in the surface of the skin. The sweat is a transparent colorless acidic fluid with a peculiar odor. It contains some fatty acids and mineral matter. It is also called perspiration.
- Sugar Busters diet
The Sugar Busters diet is a weight loss plan based upon restriction of sugar intake. The diet is based upon the concept that sugar consumption leads to insulin release, which some experts believe leads to weight gain. Sugar and other complex carbohydrates such as pasta, white bread, and white rice are forbidden on the sugar […]