blue tongue, noun phrase

Forms:
Also with initial capitals.
Origin:
South African DutchShow more Translation of South African Dutch blauwtong, see blauwtong.
Pathology
Either of two viral diseases of livestock, transmitted by gnats: a. A disease (especially of sheep) characterized by swelling of the lips and tongue, and bluish discoloration of the mucous membrane of the mouth; tung-ziekte. b. dikkop sense 2 a. In both senses also called blauwtong. Also attributive.
1863 J.S. Dobie S. Afr. Jrnl (1945) 86Blue tongue..(..a swelling of the tongue and lips which prevents the poor beast from eating).
1887 H. Rider Haggard Jess p.viiiIt’s a beautiful veldt..no horse sickness, no blue-tongue.
1905 Nature 4 Sept. 502Catarrhal Fever of Sheep: Blue Tongue.
1914 Farmer’s Annual 131Blue-tongue, or Malarial Catarrhal Fever, is a disease which was formerly responsible for much loss; recently, however, a preventative vaccine has greatly reduced its dangers.
c1936 S. & E. Afr. Yr Bk & Guide 354Blue Tongue is restricted to certain areas of the Union, which can only be used in consequence during the dry months...The discovery of a vaccine by Sir A. Theiler has done much to bring the disease under control.
1953 U. Krige Dream & Desert 177Death, like a hailstorm in the wheat, rinderpest among the cattle, blue tongue among the sheep, could come at any moment.
1960 J. Cope Tame Ox 133‘The jackals took many, my basie. Other died of blue-tongue, gall-sickness,’ a headman said.
1967 E. Rosenthal Encycl. of Sn Afr. 153Dikkop (Thick head), Disease of horses, accompanied by the swelling of the tissue under the skin. It may take the form of swelling of the tongue, for which reason it is also known as Blue Tongue.
1969 Grocott’s Mail 28 Mar. (advt)Merino Hamels...Innoculated against Blue Tongue and Pulpy Kidney.
1976 Mönnig & Veldman Handbk on Stock Diseases 69Bluetongue is a virus of sheep and sometimes of cattle...Horsesickness and bluetongue usually occur in the same areas, because the same insects (gnats) that transmit the one virus also transmit the other.
1982 S. Afr. Panorama Sept. 6Onderstepoort Veterinary Research Institute in Pretoria is leading the world in developing cattle disease vaccines...Vaccines against blue tongue, lumpy skin disease and Rift Valley fever are manufactured nowhere else.
1988 Smuts & Alberts Forgotten Highway through Ceres & Bokkeveld 180If you didn’t trek with your sheep in winter, those sheep would be far more likely to suffer from blue tongue, and especially tribulosis.
A disease (especially of sheep) characterized by swelling of the lips and tongue, and bluish discoloration of the mucous membrane of the mouth; tung-ziekte.
dikkop sense 2 a. In both senses also called blauwtong. Also attributive.
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18631988