WHITLOW, noun

1. In surgery, paronychia, a swelling or inflammation about the nails or ends of the fingers, or affecting one or more of the phalanges of the fingers, generally terminating in an abscess. There are four or five varieties of this swelling. 1. The cutaneous paronychia, which raises the cuticle, forming a kind of vesicle filled with a limpid serum, or bloody fluid. 2. The subcutaneous paronychia, a tumor attended with acute pain. It is seated in the cellular membrane under the skin. 3. The subungual paronychia, which occurs under the nail. It commences with inflammatory symptoms, but is less painful than the former. 4. There is also the paronychia of the periosteum, and the paronychia of the tendons or theca.

2. In sheep, the whitlow is a disease of the feet, of an inflammatory kind. It occurs round the hoof, where an acrid matter is collected, which ought to be discharged.