▪ I. fever, n.1
(ˈfiːvə(r))
Forms: 1 féfer, -or, 2 feofer, (3 fefre), 3–5 fevere, (4 feavor), 4–5 fevre, fyver(e, 5 febre, (fevire, -oure, fewer), 6–8 feaver, 7 feavour, (feevor, 7–8 fevour), 3– fever.
[OE. féfor str. masc., ad. L. febris fem., whence OF. fievre (mod.F. fièvre), Pr., Pg. febre, Sp. fiebre, It. febbre; adopted independently in the Teut. langs.; OHG. fiebar (MHG. vieber, mod.G. fieber) neut., Sw. feber, Da. fever (not in Du.).
The etymology of febris is obscure. Brugmann (Grundriss II. 92) regards it as a reduplicate formation (:—pre-Latin *bhe-bhr-) on the root which appears in Skr. bhur- to be restless.]
1. Pathol. a. A morbid condition of the system, characterized by undue elevation of the temperature, and excessive change and destruction of the tissues; an instance of this. b. The generic name of a group of diseases agreeing in the above general characteristics, each of which is specially designated by some distinctive appellation, as intermittent, puerperal, scarlet, typhoid, yellow, etc. fever, for which see under the defining word.
| c 1000 Sax. Leechd. I. 148 Gif him fefer deriᵹe. c 1000 Ags. Gosp. Matt. viii. 15, & he æthran hyre hand, & se fefor [c 1160 Hatton G. feofer] hiᵹ forlet. a 1225 Ancr. R. 112 Þet was oðe fefre. a 1300 Cursor M. 20963 (Cott.) Man þat in feuer was vnfer. 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) I. 333 Men of þat lond haueþ no feuere. a 1400–50 Alexander 2546 Þat he was fallen in a feuire. 1494 Fabyan Chron. vi. clxv. 160 The Emperoure Charlys remouyd to the Cytie of Mantue, where he was grudgyd with a feuoure. 1547 Boorde Brev. Health cxxxv. (1557) 49 b, A Feuer is an vnnaturall heate grounded in the hearte and lyuer. 1598 B. Jonson Ev. Man in Hum. ii. iii, I will once more striue..to..shake the feaver off. 1614 Markham Cheap Husb. i. viii. (1668) 48 Feavers of all sorts as the Quotidian [etc.]. 1678 Hatton Corr. (1878) 169 Have a care of coming neare those that have the feavour. 1781 Gibbon Decl. & F. II. 134 foot-n., She..died of a fever on the road. 1840 Dickens Barn. Rudge v, The fever has left him. 1856 Emerson Eng. Traits, Char. Wks. (Bohn) II. 57 His [an Englishman's] hilarity is like an attack of fever. |
† c. fever ague [
ad. OF. fievre ague,
lit. ‘acute fever’]:
= ague (
obs.).
fever lent [
ad. OF. fievre lente]: a slow fever (
obs.).
fever and ague = malaria. (
obs. exc. U.S.)
| 1338 R. Brunne Chron. (Rolls) 15729 Þe ffeuere agu ful sore hym hatte. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xvii. cxxxvi. (1495) 692 Oleum rosaceum helpyth ayenst..fyre agu. c 1400 in Rel. Ant. I. 54 For the fever lente: quha that has the fever agu, that men calles lente evell, if the sekeman heved werkes that he may noght slepp, tak [etc.]. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 163 Fyvere agu, querquera. 1658 J. Hull Diaries Aug. (1857) 184 Much sickness in the southern colonies,—fevers and agues, of which many died. 1676 S. Sewall Diary (1878) I. 22 Told..of the death of Goodman Titcomb..after about a fort⁓night sickness of the Fever and Ague. 1743 in Ellis Mod. Husb. II. i. 46, I have lately been very ill of a Fever and Ague. 1846 Knickerbocker XXVII. 55 Fever-and-ague riots among the ditches and green ponds. a 1874 R. Glisan Jrnl. Army Life (1874) xxxi. 444 They would be prostrated with the various forms of malarious fever—such as fever and ague. 1904 Capt. R. E. Lee Recoll. & Lett. Gen. R. E. Lee xx. 364 To keep him free from fever-and-ague, my brother dosed him freely with cholagogue. |
d. artificial fever: a fever which is induced, for therapeutic reasons.
| 1924 Jrnl. Mental Sci. LXX. 88 Malaria therapy in general paralysis is justified;..the artificial fever induced is easily, promptly and effectively controlled. 1935 Discovery Aug. 226/1 For the general production of artificial fever such longer wave-lengths may be used. |
† 2. In
pl. with singular sense.
Obs.| c 1000 Ags. Gosp. Luke iv. 38 Ða wæs simones sweᵹer ᵹeswenced on mycelum feferum [c 1160 Hatton G. feofren]. 1382 Wyclif Matt. viii. 14 He say his wyues moder liggynge and shakun with feueris. c 1450 St. Cuthbert (Surtees) 5583 Þar was a clerk..þat þe feuers had. 1491 Caxton Vitas Patr. (W. de W. 1495) i. xl. 60 a/1 She hadde the febres or asces. a 1605 Montgomerie Flyting 314 The feavers, the fearcie, with the speinȝie flees. |
3. A state of intense nervous excitement, agitation, heat; an instance of this.
| 1586 T. B. La Primaud. Fr. Acad. i. 666 There are..two causes intermingled, which breede this franticke feaver of our France. 1606 Shakes. Tr. & Cr. i. iii. 133 An enuious Feauer Of pale and bloodlesse Emulation. 1649 Jer. Taylor Gt. Exemp. ii. Ad Ser. xii. 57 The spirits leap out from their cells of austerity and sobriety, and are warmed into feavers and wildnesses. 1737 Pope Hor. Epist. i. i. 58 This Fever of the soul. 1779 F. Burney Diary Feb., Both she and Miss S. S. were in fevers..from apprehension. 1814 Sir R. Wilson Diary II. 353 The fever excited by the news from France has not yet been allayed. 1842 J. H. Newman Par. Serm. (ed. 2) V. viii. 120 A mode of life free from..fever of mind. 1873 Black Pr. Thule v. 75 A fever of anticipation..seemed to stir in his blood. 1883 E. Pennell-Elmhirst Cream Leicestersh. 424 A fine fox set the field in a fever. |
4. attrib. and
Comb. a. simple
attrib., as
fever-bale,
fever-dream,
fever-fire,
fever-fit,
fever-glow,
fever-grass,
fever-hospital,
fever-life,
fever-nest,
fever-patient,
fever-pitch,
fever-spasm,
fever-thirst,
fever-vomit,
fever-ward;
fever-like adj. and
adv. b. objective, as
fever-cooling,
fever-destroying adjs. c. instrumental, as
fever-cracking,
fever-haunted,
fever-maddened,
fever-parched,
fever-shaken,
fever-sick,
fever-smitten,
fever-stricken,
fever-troubled,
fever-weakened adjs.| 1844 Mrs. Browning Bertha ix, I lose that *fever-bale And my thoughts grow calm again. |
| 1727–46 Thomson Summer 668 The spreading tamarind..shakes..its *fever-cooling fruit. |
| 1861 Mrs. Norton Lady La G. iv. 331 Nor fresh cooling drinks To woo the *fever-cracking lip. |
| 1884 Syd. Soc. Lex., *Fever-destroying tree, the Eucalyptus globulus. |
| 1834 Mrs. Hemans Eng. Martyrs i. 2 The cavern of the prisoner's *fever-dream. |
| 1898 T. Watts-Dunton Aylwin xii. 329 The *fever-fires in my brain. |
| 1681 Temple Mem. iii. Wks. 1731 I. 343 Being free of any Return of his *Fever Fits. 1830 Scott Demonol. i. 39 A sudden and temporary fever-fit. |
| 1842 Emerson Lect., Transcendentalist Wks. (Bohn) II. 289, I wish to exchange..this *fever-glow for a benign climate. |
| 1893 C. Sullivan Jamaica Cookery Bk. 112 *Fever grass is a fragrant smelling lemony grass; it is excellent in fever just boiled and sweetened. 1930 R. Macaulay Staying with Relations ix. 127 The fever grass, that one eats to cure malaria. |
| 1864 Kingsley Rom. & Teut. i. (1875) 13 Nothing was left save *fever-haunted plains. |
| 1822 J. M. Good Study Med. II. 194 The inestimable advantage of such establishments as *Fever Houses or Infirmaries in all populous towns,..superintended by the active humanity and established talents which are so conspicuous in the Fever Hospital of this metropolis. 1964 G. L. Cohen What's Wrong with Hospitals? iv. 73 Laymen still shrink from entering a ‘fever hospital’: the very name evokes plague and pox. |
| 1877 Gen. Gordon in Pall Mall G. 4 Mar. (1884) 11/1 It is a *fever life I lead. |
| a 1577 Gascoigne Wks. (1587) 5 And *feverlike I feede my fancie still With such repast as most empaires my health. 1612 Drayton Poly-olb. vii. Argt., When the Higre takes her, How fever-like the sickness shakes her. |
| 1884 Syd. Soc. Lex., *Fever-nests, localities where..fever is generated. |
| 1802 Med. Jrnl. VIII. 562 The reception of *fever patients. |
| 1683 Chalkhill Thealma & Cl. 26 Like a distempered Body *Fever-shaken. |
| 1599 Peele David & Bethsabe Wks. (Rtldg.) 466/1 Lie down upon thy bed Feigning thee *fever-sick and ill-at-ease. 1884 Syd. Soc. Lex., Feversick. |
| 1884 Pall Mall G. 23 Feb. 4 Vera Cruz, that..*fever-smitten port. |
| 1863 W. Phillips Speeches vi. 152 Of which revolution is the *fever-spasm. |
| 1818 Shelley Marenghi viii, The *fever-stricken serf. |
| a 1835 Mrs. Hemans Ancestral Song 77 All the *fever-thirst is still'd. |
| 1836 J. H. Newman in Lyra Apost. (1849) 87 That *fever-troubled state. |
| 1671 Salmon Syn. Med. iii. lxxxii. 713 If there be *Feaver vomit. |
| 1802 Med. Jrnl. VIII. 562 By converting these *fever-wards..to the purpose of a general house of recovery for all infectious fever which might occur in the town. |
| 1597 Shakes. 2 Hen. IV, i. i. 140 The Wretch, whose *Feauer-weakned ioynts, Like strengthlesse Hindges, buckle vnder life. |
| 1904 Daily Chron. 29 Dec. 4/4 Fever⁓parched lips. 1962 L. Deighton Ipcress File xxxi. 200 The tape recordings..must have worked everyone up to fever pitch. |
5. Special comb.:
fever-bark, bark useful in cases of fever;
fever-blister (see
quot.);
fever-bush (see
quot. 1884);
fever-chart, a chart recording the course of fever in a patient; also
fig.;
fever-fly, the
Dilophus vulgaris;
fever-heat, the high temperature of the body in fever (on some thermometers marked at 112° F.), also
fig.;
† fever-hectic,
= hectic fever (see
hectic);
fever-nut, the seeds of
Cæsalpina Bonducella;
fever-powder, a remedy for fever;
fever-root (see
quot. 1884), also
fever and ague root;
fever-sore (see
quot.);
fever therapy, the treatment of disease by induced fever (see 1 d);
fever-trap, a place where one is liable to be caught by fever;
fever-tree,
-twig (see
quots.);
fever-weed, a plant of the genus
Eryngium;
fever-wood (see
quot.);
fever-wort, (
a) (see
quot.); (
b) a plant of the genus
Eupatorium (
Worc.). Also
fever-lurden.
| 1659 *Fever bark [see Jesuit n. 4 c]. 1830 Lindley Nat. Syst. Bot. 205 A kind of fever bark is obtained..from Rondeletia febrifuga. 1920 H. G. Greenish Text-bk. Mat. Med. (ed. 3) vii. 268 The latter bark [of Alstonia constricta] is also known as Australian fever bark. |
| 1884 Syd. Soc. Lex., *Fever blister, the herpes of the lips which occurs frequently in feverish or catarrhal disturbances of the body. |
| 1792 J. Belknap Hist. New-Hampsh. III. 97 The Spice⁓wood (Laurus benzoin) or..*Feverbush, is..common in New-Hampshire. 1884 Syd. Soc. Lex., Feverbush, the Benzoin odoriferum and also the Prinos verticillatus. |
| 1940 T. S. Eliot East Coker iv. 12 The sharp compassion of the healer's art Resolving the enigma of the *fever chart. 1958 Spectator 17 Jan. 71/3 A sort of dossier or fever-chart of the controversy which raged intermittently..for several months. |
| 1889 E. A. Ormerod Injurious Insects (1890) 129 *Fever Fly. |
| 1838 Prescott Ferd. & Is. ii. vi. (1849) II. 367 Ximenes whose zeal had mounted up to *fever heat..was not to be cooled by any opposition. 1889 Jessopp Coming of Friars vii. 309 The feeling of the country was approaching fever heat. |
| 1607 Topsell Serpents (1653) 725 For *Fever-hecticks they prepare them thus. |
| 1795 R. Anderson Life Johnson 14 He had for his school-fellows Dr. James, inventor of the *fever-powder, Mr. Lowe, [etc.]. |
| 1853 Dunglison Med. Dict. (ed. 9), *Fever-root. 1884 Syd. Soc. Lex., Fever-root, the Pterospora andromedea: also the Triosteum perfoliatum. |
| 1676 T. Glover in Phil. Trans. XI. 630 The English call it the *Fever and Ague-root. |
| 1860 Worcester, *Fever-sore, the common name of a species of caries or necrosis. |
| 1924 Jrnl. Mental Sci. LXX. 89 Three cases were of undoubted general paralysis which had as yet not been subjected to any form of *fever therapy. 1944 E. C. Pearce Fevers & Fever Nursing (ed. 6) xvii. 294 Fever therapy is employed in the later stages of chronic syphilis. |
| 1891 C. Creighton Hist. Epidemics 589 More recent visitors..have remarked upon their towns and villages as *fever-traps. |
| 1876 Forest & Stream 13 July 375/3 The large tribe of the Eucalyptus (honey or *fever trees). 1884 Syd. Soc. Lex., Fever tree, the Pinckneya pubens. |
| Ibid., *Fever twig, the Celastrus scandens. |
| 1855 H. Clarke Dict., *Fever-weed, an eryngium. |
| 1884 Syd. Soc. Lex., *Fever wood, the Benzoin odoriferum. |
| 1611 Cotgr., Sacotin, *feauerwort. 1836 Loudon Encycl. Plants 170 Triosteum, feverwort. |
▪ II. † ˈfever, n.2 Obs.—1 [ad. OF. fevere, fevre, febvre, fabre = Pr. fabre, It. fabbro, OSp. fabro:—L. fabr-um, faber.] A smith.
| 1415 York Myst. Introd. 22 Feuers, Couureours [etc.]. |
▪ III. fever, v. (
ˈfiːvə(r))
[f. fever n.1] 1. trans. To put or throw into a fever;
lit. and
fig. Also,
† to fever (one) into.
| 1606 Shakes. Ant. & Cl. iii. xiii. 138 The white hand of a Lady Feauer thee. 1624 Heywood Gunaik. ix. 430 His words..feavered her all over. 1689 Rycaut Hist. Turks II. 189 His passion feavered him into a desperate sickness. 1748 Thomson Cast. Indol. ii. 265 To his licentious wish each must be blest, With joy be fevered. 1820 Keats Isabel vi, The ruddy tide.. Fever'd his high conceit of such a bride. a 1853 Robertson Serm. Ser. iii. xx. 262 A heart which sin has fevered. 1862 T. A. Trollope Marietta I. xvi, Tending..to wear out and fever her body. |
2. intr. To become feverish, to be seized with a fever. Also (
nonce-use) of the eyes,
to fever out: to start out with fever or excitement.
| 1754–64 Smellie Midwif. III. 380 She fevered and died. 1791 T. Newte Tour Eng. & Scotl. 171 He never fevered with the fracture, and very soon recovered. 1820 Keats Hyperion i. 138 This passion..made..His eyes to fever out, his voice to cease. 1827 Scott Jrnl. 5 Jan., I waked..for five or six hours I think, then fevered a little. |
| fig. 1814 Byron Lara i. xxvi, A hectic tint of secret care That for a burning moment fever'd there. 1818 Byron Ch. Har. iv. cxxii, Of its own beauty is the mind diseased, And fevers into false creation. 1834 Disraeli Rev. Epick iii. vii, That eager blood That in old days..So oft hath fevered o'er victorious dreams. |
Hence
ˈfevering ppl. a.| 1794 J. Williams Crying Ep. 70 That high day of fevering youth. 1892 W. B. Scott Autob. I. ix. 98 At this moment of fevering unrest. |