1. syphilis, especially in its chronic or tertiary stage
Usage: medical/archaic; from Latin, meaning 'plague' or 'pestilence'

Examples

• The physician diagnosed the patient with lues after observing characteristic symptoms.
• In medical history texts, lues is often discussed as a major public health concern of the Renaissance.
• The term lues venerea was used in older medical literature to distinguish the venereal form of the disease.