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tarantism definition

tar·ant·ism (tar′ən tiz′əm)

noun

a nervous disease characterized by hysteria and popularly believed to be curable by dancing or manifested by a mania for dancing: prevalent in S Italy during the 16th and 17th cent.

Etymology: It tarantismo: because formerly epidemic in the vicinity of Taranto; pop. assoc. with the tarantula, by whose bite it was erroneously said to be caused

Webster's New World College Dictionary Copyright © 2009 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

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