Scrofula, formerly held to be curable by the royal touch.
〈史〉淋巴结结核（俗称瘰疬症，旧时认为经帝王触摸后即可痊愈）
Example sentencesExamples
When 3 years old he was brought to London to be touched for the king's evil by Queen Anne; the illness seriously affected his sight, but he was from an early age an avid reader.
The disappearance of touching for the king's evil was probably just as much a result of an increasing understanding of science and medicine as it was of the decreasing God-like reverence for monarchs.
The charm made in Blackmore Vale Dairy was good against the king's evil and tubercular wounds.
He sees something magic in it, scientific magic, like being touched by the king for the king's evil.
He believed that he possessed semi-divine powers and attributes (no king touched so much for the king's evil, that class of unpleasant glandular and scrofulous disorders that kings were reputed to be able to cure).
Definition of king's evil in US English:
king's evil
noun
usually the king's evilarchaic
Scrofula, formerly held to be curable by the royal touch.
〈史〉淋巴结结核（俗称瘰疬症，旧时认为经帝王触摸后即可痊愈）
Example sentencesExamples
He sees something magic in it, scientific magic, like being touched by the king for the king's evil.
The charm made in Blackmore Vale Dairy was good against the king's evil and tubercular wounds.
The disappearance of touching for the king's evil was probably just as much a result of an increasing understanding of science and medicine as it was of the decreasing God-like reverence for monarchs.
When 3 years old he was brought to London to be touched for the king's evil by Queen Anne; the illness seriously affected his sight, but he was from an early age an avid reader.
He believed that he possessed semi-divine powers and attributes (no king touched so much for the king's evil, that class of unpleasant glandular and scrofulous disorders that kings were reputed to be able to cure).