Wiktionary

fever

See also: Fever

English

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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From Middle English fever, fevere, from Old English fefer, fefor (“fever”) and Old French fievre (“fever”), from Latin febris (“a fever”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰegʷʰ- (“to burn”). Replaced native Old English hriþ (“fever”). Compare also Saterland Frisian Fiewer, German Fieber, Danish feber, Swedish feber.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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fever (countable and uncountable, plural fevers)

  2. (medicine) A higher than normal body temperature of a person (or, generally, a mammal), usually caused by disease.
    "I have a fever. I think I've the flu."
    • 2016 September 16, Hailey Middlebrook, “Should you really feed a cold and starve a fever?”, in CNN‎[1]:
      Proper nutrition – and even more important, proper hydration – is crucial in preventing and recovering from both fevers and colds. […] As Abramson explained, when we are sick, whether we have a fever or not, our metabolic rates skyrocket, and our bodies need more calories to support that high metabolic rate.
  3. (usually in combination with one or more preceding words) Any of various diseases.
    scarlet fever
  4. A state of excitement or anxiety.
    • c. 1602, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Troylus and Cressida”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii]:
      an envious fever
    • 1996 March 15, Jonathan Mirsky, “Taiwan President visits islanders to bolster morale”, in The Times‎[2], number 65,528, →ISSN, →OCLC, Overseas News, page 15, column 3:
      There is little doubt that while war fever has not gripped Taipei, its economic foundations are being shaken. The stock market rose yesterday, but only because the Government has pumped $1.5 billion (£1 billion) into it after $370 million was drained from banks, and stocks were sold by investors who are worried by the Chinese manoeuvres.
  5. (neologism) A group of stingrays.
    • 2011, Julianne Schultz, editor, Griffith REVIEW 34: The Annual Fiction Edition:
      On the way back to the mainland the boat passed over a fever of stingrays, and the sight of them through the glass was enough to colour everything else, and outstrip it.
    • 2020, Lindsay Illich, “sea turtle”, in rile & heave (everything reminds me of you): Poems:
      They move like thoughts, like memory, like a Wes Anderson diorama of earthly delights: lionfish, an albacore, a fever of stingrays—and then like a wound, a sea turtle at eye level.
    • 2020, Sarah Elizabeth, Secrets of the Past: Ocean Academy Year 1:
      She threw up her hands in excitement and the ball of water flew right into the pathway of the fever of stingrays.
  6. (in combination, slang, often derogatory) Sexual attraction towards a specific group of people.
    Asian fever
    clown fever
    white fever
    blue fever

Synonyms

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Hyponyms

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Derived terms

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some unsorted, may be hyponyms
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Translations

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higher than normal body temperature

See also

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Verb

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fever (third-person singular simple present fevers, present participle fevering, simple past and past participle fevered)

  1. To put into a fever; to affect with fever.
    a fevered lip
  2. To become fevered.

References

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Further reading

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Anagrams

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