1. the monthly discharge of blood from the uterus of nonpregnant women from puberty to menopause;
"the women were sickly and subject to excessive menstruation"
"a woman does not take the gout unless her menses be stopped"--Hippocrates
"the semen begins to appear in males and to be emitted at the same time of life that the catamenia begin to flow in females"--Aristotle