Con*sump"tion (?; 215), n. [L. consumptio: cf.
F. consomption.]
1. The act or process of consuming by use, waste,
etc.; decay; destruction.
Every new advance of the price to
the consumer is a new incentive to him to retrench the quality of his consumption.
Burke.
2.
The state or process of
being consumed, wasted, or
diminished; waste; diminution; loss; decay.
3. (Med.)
A progressive wasting away of the body;
esp., that form of wasting, attendant upon pulmonary phthisis and associated with cough, spitting of blood, hectic fever, etc.; pulmonary phthisis; --
called also pulmonary
consumption.
Consumption of the bowels (Med.), inflammation and ulceration of the intestines from tubercular disease.
Syn.
-- Decline; waste; decay. See Decline.
Hear it pronounced