† ˈfever-ˈlurden
[f. fever n. + lurdan (imitating medical names of fevers). Said to survive dial. as fever-lurgan, -lurgy, -largie.]
The disease of laziness.
| c 1500 Blowbol's Test. 75 in Hazl. E.P.P. I. 93, I trow he was infecte certeyn With the faitour, or the fever lordeyn. 1547 Boorde Brev. Health cli. (1557) 55, I had almoste forgotten the feuer lurden, with the whiche manye..yonge persons bee sore infected nowe a dayes. 1636 Heylin Sabbath ii. 149 They have a feaver-lurdane, and they cannot stirre. 1808 Jamieson Fever-largie, expl. ‘Two stomachs to eat, and none to work’; county unknown. |