Bay fever

English

Noun

Bay fever (plural Bay fevers)

1. (Australia, slang, obsolete) Any illness feigned by convicts to avoid being sent to Botany Bay, used perjoratively.^[1][2]

References

1. ^ 1811, Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue
2. ^ 1811, Francis Grose, Lexicon balatronicum : a dictionary of buckish slang, university wit, and pickpocket eloquence.