Meaning of rising of the lights | Babel Free

Definitions

An illness or obstructive condition of the larynx, trachea, or lungs, found as a cause of death on bills of mortality in the 16- and 1700s; possibly croup.

historical, obsolete, uncountable

Examples

“John Graunt reflected on the increases in death from particular diseases between 1634 and 1660: […] That the Rising of the lights (supposed in most Cases to be the Fits of the Mother) have also encreased in thirty years, […]”

“The December 1759 edition, for example, offers a bleak perspective on an underside of the Enlightenment, Of the 19514 deaths on the London list, […] the causes of death included these: bloody flux, twisting of the guts, evil, French pox, rising of the lights, ...”

CEFR level