“Dropsied” is an archaic medical adjective derived from dropsy, a condition now commonly called edema. Historically, dropsy described visible swelling caused by fluid retention, often connected with heart, kidney, or liver disease. In poetry, the word’s antiquated sound and striking bodily image make it useful for grim, grotesque, or historical scenes. A dropsied body may symbolize burdens that cannot be contained, while a dropsied landscape or cloud can suggest unnatural swelling. The term appears in poems concerned with illness, excess, corruption, and mortality.

"Dropsied" is an archaic medical term describing a body swollen with fluid (edema). In early modern, Restoration, and 18th-century poetry (such as works by Alexander Pope or Jonathan Swift), dropsy was frequently used as a satirical metaphor for excessive greed, gluttony, or moral corruption—an insatiable thirst that leads only to further unhealthy swelling. When teaching historical poetry, explaining the humors and historical medical definitions like dropsy helps students unlock original political and moral satires that modern readers might otherwise misinterpret as purely physical descriptions. Related terms include edematous, hydropic, bloated, and tumid.