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.
