apricot sickness, noun phrase

Origin:
AfrikaansShow more Translation of Afrikaans appelkoossiekte, appelkoos apricot + siekte sickness; see quotation 1949.
Pathology
Diarrhoea occurring in summer; any intestinal or gastro-intestinal infection.
1945 Cape Times 27 Jan. 11Apricot sickness is most troublesome when the entire gastro-intestinal tract is affected; that is to say, when there is vomiting as well as diarrhoea.
1949 L.G. Green In Land of Afternoon 156Apricot sickness..is an inevitable complaint during the fruit season...The illness gained its name because apricots were the first spring fruits which the early Cape farmers produced. They suffered from the familiar griping pains and diarrhoea, and rightly blamed the apricots.
1958 R.E. Lighton Out of Strong 51I said nothing about eating marulas. Better leave them alone: they make your lips sore and may give you apricot sickness.
1974 Sunday Times 24 Nov. (Mag. Sect.) 2The ‘trots’, a ‘runny tummy’, ‘Apricot sickness’ or ‘gastric flu’.
1983 J.A. Brown White Locusts 160In the height of summer not a week passed but an infant died of what they called ‘the apricot sickness’. The milk sold from door to door by Boer farmers was suspect.
Diarrhoea occurring in summer; any intestinal or gastro-intestinal infection.
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19451983

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Afrikaans
appy, nounn.April Fool, noun phrasen. phr.
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