hydrophobia

noun

1. (countable, uncountable)An aversion to water, as a symptom of rabies; the disease of rabies itself.

   “[…] Cato, who ſcorned both death and fortune, could not abide the ſight of a looking glaſſe or of water; overcome with horrour, and quelled with amazement, if by the contagion of a mad dog he had falne into that ſickneſſe which Phiſitians call Hydroforbia, or feare of waters.”

   “Now that I have breathed a little, I am anxious to know your opinion of the nature of that affection in the throat, which deprives a patient of the power of ſwallowing in conſequence of hydrophobia.”

   “I myself knew a boy whose face was licked by a dog that was going mad, and who died of hydrophobia.”

   “The Christian philosophy nominally attributes all natural evils, including sickness and death, to sin. But it has lost the connecting link between the moral disorders and the physical disorders which afflict us. […] It cannot understand […] how there are cancers and plagues and hydrophobias of the soul, the secret causes of those horrible diseases in the body.”

2. (colloquial, countable, uncountable)A morbid fear of water; aquaphobia.

   “[page 39] HydroPhobias begin on land long before casting off. But once at sea, fear is quickly lost in the joys and pleasures of the passage. […] [page 40] There are three HydroPhobias. The Big Three. Two of the Big Three are fears that prevent landlubbers from becoming sailors. The third is primal and common to all mankind. The Big Three are 1) Fear of Flatland, 2) Fear of Being with Self, and 3) The Fear of Bogeymen.”

3. (countable, uncountable)A lack of affinity for water; the quality of being hydrophobic