Itch
Webster's Dictionary [1]
(1): ( n.) A sensation in the skin occasioned (or resembling that occasioned) by the itch eruption; - called also scabies, psora, etc.
(2): ( n.) Any itching eruption.
(3): ( n.) An eruption of small, isolated, acuminated vesicles, produced by the entrance of a parasitic mite (the Sarcoptes scabei), and attended with itching. It is transmissible by contact.
(4): ( v. i.) To have a constant desire or teasing uneasiness; to long for; as, itching ears.
(5): ( v. i.) To have an uneasy sensation in the skin, which inclines the person to scratch the part affected.
(6): ( n.) A constant irritating desire.
King James Dictionary [2]
ITCH, n.
1. A cutaneous disease of the human race, appearing in small watery pustules on the skin, accompanied with an uneasiness or irritation that inclines the patient to use friction. This disease is supposed by some authors to be occasioned by a small insect, a species of Acarus, as the microscope detects these insects in the vesicles. Others suppose the pustules only form a nidus for the insects. This disease is taken only by contact or contagion. 2. The sensation in the skin occasioned by the disease. 3. A constant teasing desire as an itch for praise an itch for scribbling.
ITCH,
1. To feel a particular uneasiness in the skin, which inclines the person to scratch the part. 2. To have a constant desire or teasing inclination as itching ears. 2 Timothy 4
Holman Bible Dictionary [3]
Deuteronomy 28:27 Leviticus 13:30-37 alopecia areata Leviticus 13:40-41 Leviticus 22:22
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible [4]
ITCH . See Medicine, p. 599 b .
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia [5]
( חרס , ḥāreṣ ; ψώρα , psō̇ra ): Only in Deuteronomy 28:27 , where it probably refers to the parasitic skin disease of that name which is very common in Palestine. It is due to a small mite, Sarcoptes scabiei , which makes burrows in the skin and sometimes causes extensive crusts or scabs, attended with a severe itching. It is very easily communicated from person to person by contact, and can be cured only by destruction of the parasite. This disease disqualified its victims for the priesthood ( Leviticus 21:20 ).
Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature [6]
( חֶרֶס , Che'Res, from חָרִס , to Scratch and to Burn), an inflammatory irritation of the skin, threatened to the Israelites as an infliction in case of idolatry ( Deuteronomy 28:27); probably some coetaneous or eruptive disorder common in Egypt, but of what peculiar character is uncertain, if, indeed, any peculiar malady is intended. (See Disease).
