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horror autotoxicus. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
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English
Etymology
Latinate neologism coined c. 1900 by Paul Ehrlich in German, from Latin horror, auto- (“self”), toxicus (“toxic”). Compare horror vacui.
Noun
horror autotoxicus (uncountable)
- (historical, immunology) The now-discredited principle that the body will not harm itself by its own immune reactions.
1989, Arthur M. Silverstein, A History of Immunology, →ISBN, page 163:Ehrlich's dictum of horror autotoxicus makes no claim that autoantibodies may not be formed; it only suggests that they are somehow prevented from acting.