MUMPS

Meanings

1. Acronym of Massachusetts General Hospital Utility Multi-Programming System, a programming language (and database) developed originally to be specifically for hierarchically arranged records, such as medical records.

1. A contagious disease caused by the Mumps virus of the genus Rubulavirus, mostly occurring in childhood, which causes swelling of glands in the face and neck.
2. A gloomy or sullen silence.

1. third-person singular simple present indicative of mump

1. plural of mump

Etymology

Circa 1600, from mump (“grimace”, noun), compare mump (verb), most likely referring to the painful difficulty in swallowing.