MAD COW DISEASE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does mad cow disease mean? 

• MAD COW DISEASE (noun)
  The noun MAD COW DISEASE has 1 sense:

1. a fatal disease of cattle that affects the central nervous system; causes staggering and agitation

  Familiarity information: MAD COW DISEASE used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• MAD COW DISEASE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A fatal disease of cattle that affects the central nervous system; causes staggering and agitation

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Synonyms:

bovine spongiform encephalitis; BSE; mad cow disease

Hypernyms ("mad cow disease" is a kind of...):

animal disease (a disease that typically does not affect human beings)

 Context examples 

Other prion diseases include scrapie in sheep and bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or mad cow disease, in cattle.

(Study finds no chronic wasting disease transmissibility in macaques, National Institutes of Health)

Cattle can get a disease related to CJD called bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) or "mad cow disease."

(Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease, NIH: National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke)