▪ I. ague
(ˈeɪgjuː)
Forms: 4 aguwe, 4–6 agew, 4–7 agu, 5 agwe, 6 agewe, 4– ague.
[a. OFr. ague:—L. acūta sharp, used subst. in med.L. for an ‘acute fever,’ fièvre ague: see acute a. 2.]
† 1. An acute or violent fever. Obs.
| 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. xiii. 336, I cacche þe crompe..Or an ague in such an angre. 1393 Ibid. C. xxiii. 84 Bules and bocches · and brennyng Aguwes. 1494 Fabyan vii. 377 Y⊇ kynge was taken with suche a flixe, and therwith an agu, that he kept his bedde. 1541 Barnes Wks. (1573) 325/1 Peters wyues mother had a gret agew. 1611 Bible Lev. xxvi. 16 And the burning ague, that shall consume the eyes [Vulg. ardore, Wyclif brennyng.] |
2. esp. A malarial fever, marked by successive fits or paroxysms, consisting of a cold, hot, and sweating stage. The name ague was apparently at first given to the burning or feverish stage, but afterwards more usually to the cold or shivering stage, as being the most striking external character of the disease.
| c 1386 Chaucer Nun's Pr. T. 140 Ye schul have a fever terciane, Or an agu, that may be youre bane. 1440 Promp. Parv., Agwe, sekenes, Acuta, querquera. 1579 Gosson Sch. Abuse (Arb.) 16 Hee that hath bin shooke with a fierce ague. 1601 Shakes. Jul. C. ii. ii. 113 That same Ague which hath made you leane. 1678 Butler Hudibr. iii. i. 653 'Tis but an ague that's reverst, Whose hot fit takes the patient first. 1719 De Foe Crusoe i. 101 An Ague very violent; the Fit held me seven Hours, cold Fit, and hot, with faint Sweats after it. 1859 Masson Milton I. 142 Confined to College by an attack of ague (then the prevalent disease of the fenny Cambridge district). |
3. loosely or fig. Any fit of shaking or shivering, like the cold stage of ague; quaking.
| 1589 Pappe with Hatchet (1844) 14 And saies he will ergo Martin into an ague. 1596 Shakes. Merch. V. i. i. 23 My winde cooling my broth, Would blow me to an Ague. 1608 Bp. Hall Epistles i. ii, All these earthly delights! If they were sound, they are but a good day between tuo agues. 1750 Gray Let. in Poems (1775) 217 But soon his rhetorick forsook him..A sudden fit of ague shook him, He stood as mute as poor Macleane. 1813 Scott Rokeby ii. xi, For not to rank nor sex confined Is this vain ague of the mind. |
4. attrib. and Comb., as in ague-fen, ague-fit, ague-sore, etc.; instrumental, as in ague-struck, ague-shaken, etc.: ague-like; ague-drop, a solution of potassic arseniate, used as a remedy for ague; ague-grass, a name of the Aletris farinosa; ague-proof a., proof against ague; ague-shake v., to shake as with ague; ague-shell (see quot.); ague-spell, charm against ague; ague-cake, ague-tree, q.v.
| 1866 Kingsley Herew. xv. 194 One who has just come from the ague-fens. 1587 Golding De Mornay xii. 175 What feare, and what Agewfits they susteine in following their wicked lusts. 1858 Froude Hist. Eng. III. xv. 350 Cromwell..had an ague-fit from anxiety. 1748 Richardson Clarissa (1811) I. 13 An ague-like lover. 1687 Clayton in Phil. Trans. XLI. 158 Some call it Ague-grass, others Ague-root, others Star-grass. 1605 Shakes. Lear iv. vi. 107, I am not agu-proofe. 1653 Shirley Cupid & Death 350 How will she ague-shake him with a frown! 1708 in Phil. Trans. XXVI. 78 Gryphites, the Hawk's-Bill, or Ague-shell. 1745 Gay Wks. I. 120 His Pills, his Balsams, and his Ague-spells. |
▪ II. ague, v. rare.
(ˈeɪgjuː)
[f. the n.]
To affect with, or as with, ague; to seize with a quaking.
| 1636 Heywood Chall. for Beauty (T.) Whose aspect Would ague such as should but hear it told. 1796 F. Burney Camilla v. vi, I am agued with trepidation. 1864 Sir F. Palgrave Hist. Norm. III. 379 The victor of Hastings was agued with terror when receiving his prize. |