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Glite Dictionary
louping ill

louping ill

9.9
A serious sickness of sheep caused by a virus spread by ticks that affects their brain and nerves
  • noun
  • UK
translation icon : enfermedad de louping
  • The veterinarian diagnosed the sheep with louping ill after it displayed symptoms of tremors and incoordination.

Examples

  • Vaccination is an effective measure to protect flocks from louping ill.

  • Farmers in Scotland take precautions during tick season to prevent outbreaks of louping ill.

  • The farmer reported cases of louping ill in his flock.

  • Have you heard about louping ill affecting sheep this year?

  • Farmers in Scotland take precautions during tick season to prevent outbreaks of louping ill.

  • The veterinarian diagnosed the sheep with louping ill after it displayed symptoms of tremors and incoordination.

  • Vaccination is an effective measure to protect flocks from louping ill.

Surface Forms

louping ill singular
louping ills plural

Morphology

louping + ill

The headword contains a dialectal/obsolete element 'louping' (not in ordinary dictionaries) whose meaning is not transparent to a B1 learner, so knowing 'ill' (sickness) alone does not allow derivation of the specific disease sense. The phrase is a technical, lexicalized disease name rather than a compositional phrase, making its overall meaning unpredictable from the constituents.

Etymology

Louping ill comes from Scots words louping (from a verb meaning 'to leap') and ill meaning sickness. Farmers called it that because sick sheep often trembled or made sudden jumps when infected by a virus spread by ticks, so louping ill now means this disease of sheep.