in Medicine, any circumstance which indicates the existence, nature, or stage of a disease. Pain, waking, drowsiness, convulsions, suppression of urine, difficulty of breathing and swallowing, coughs, distastes, nausea, thirsts, swoonings, faintings, loofenels, coliciveness, drynels and blackness of the tongue, are the principal symptoms of diseases. See Medicine, n° 41. and §8.