||Em`phy*se"ma (?), n. [NL., from Gr.
? inflation, fr. ? to inflate; ? in + ? to blow: cf. F.
emphysème.] (Med.) A swelling produced by
gas or air diffused in the cellular tissue.
Emphysema of the lungs, Pulmonary
emphysema (Med.), a common disease of the lungs
in which the air cells are distended and their partition walls
ruptured by an abnormal pressure of the air contained in
them.