Strumous is an old medical adjective associated with scrofula, historically understood as a chronic disorder marked by swollen lymph glands, often connected with tuberculosis. The term belongs especially to older medical, religious, and Gothic writing, where diseased glands and disfiguring swellings could signify poverty, contagion, family inheritance, or social stigma. In poetry, strumous imagery may evoke the body as visibly marked by long suffering. Its antiquated sound also helps create a period atmosphere of infirmaries, superstition, and fearful diagnosis.

"Strumous" is an archaic medical term meaning affected by scrofula—tuberculous swelling of the lymph nodes, particularly in the neck (historically called the "King's Evil"). In historical literature, strumous imagery evokes unsightly physical swellings, hidden bodily toxins, and hereditary afflictions. Teaching this term equips students to interpret historical poetry and prose where bodily swellings served as public markers of internal disease, poverty, or divine punishment. Related terms include scrofulous, tubercular, swollen, and glandular.