strangling angel of children
English
[edit]Etymology
[edit]From being a childhood disease that causes suffocation of children when it creates biofilms in the lungs that prevent air from being exchanged with the blood.
Noun
[edit]the strangling angel of children
- (poetic) The disease diphtheria.
Usage notes
[edit]- Commonly said to be archaic, but first appears in writing around the 21st century.