scrophulous

Adjective

scrofulous (comparative more scrofulous, superlative most scrofulous)

1. (dated) Of, related to, or suffering from scrofula (form of tuberculosis tending to cause enlarged lymph nodes and skin inflammation).
   • On the ſurface of the water there floats a liquid bitumen, although it be every day ſcummed off, as it doth on the lake Aſphaltites in Judæa: The Inhabitants uſe it as pitch: it is alſo found to be an excellent vulnerary, and good in curing old cacoethic and ſcrophulous ulcers.1757, John Rutty, A Methodical Synopsis of Mineral Waters, Comprehending the Most Celebrated Medicinal Waters, both Cold and Hot, of Great-Britain, Ireland, France, Germany, and Italy, and several...
2. (figuratively) Having an unkempt, unhealthy appearance.
   • Poor devil, he's gone to the dogs altogether. He's got some twopenny-halfpenny job in the medical at Alexandria—sanitary officer or something like that. I'm told he lives with an ugly old Greek woman and has half a dozen scrofulous kids.1919, W[illiam] Somerset Maugham, chapter L, in The Moon and Sixpence, [New York, N.Y.]: Grosset & Dunlap Publishers […], →OCLC, page 264
3. (figuratively) Morally degenerate; corrupt.
   • a scrofulous politician