Dictionary.net

A disease in which the urine accumulated in the bladder cannot be evacuated; or, at least, cannot be passed without extreme difficulty. In the former case, the retention is said to be complete; in the latter, incomplete. Many writers have distinguished three degrees of this affection, to which they have given the names Dysury, Strangury, and Ischury. Retention of urine may depend upon loss of contractility, paralysis of the bladder, etc., or on some obstacle to the passing of the urine, as in cases of pressure of the womb on the bladder, of tumours in its vicipity, foreign bodies in its cavity, inflammation of the urethra, swelling of the prostate, stricture, etc. The pain is extremely violent, and the bladder may be found distended above the pubis. The treatment consists in introducing the catheter, or puncturing the bladder, and in combating the cause, which has produced the retention, by particular means adapted to each case.