fever

To put into a fever; to affect with fever.

Noun

  1. A higher than normal body temperature of a person (or, generally, a mammal), usually caused by disease.
    • There has been a rise in my fever. I think I've the flu.
    • 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...
  2. Any of various diseases.
    • scarlet fever
  3. A state of excitement or anxiety.
    • an envious fever - c. 1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Troylus and Cressida”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and...
    • 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...
  4. A group of stingrays.
    • 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. - 2011, Julianne Schultz, editor, Griffith REVIEW...
    • 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, Lindsay Illich, “sea turtle”,...
    • She threw up her hands in excitement and the ball of water flew right into the pathway of the fever of stingrays. - 2020, Sarah Elizabeth, Secrets of the Past: Ocean Academy Year 1:
  5. Sexual attraction towards a specific group of people.
    • Asian fever
    • clown fever
    • white fever

Origin

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”). Displaced native Old English hriþ (“fever”). Compare also Saterland Frisian Fiewer, German Fieber, Danish feber, Swedish feber.

Forms

fevers feaver fevre

Synonyms

high temperature pyrexia temperature excitation excitement passion

Hyponyms

abortus fever absorption fever acclimating fever Aden fever adynamic fever aestivoautumnal fever African Coast fever algid pernicious fever aphthous fever ardent fever arthropod-borne fever artificial fever aseptic fever Asian fever Assam fever Astrakhan fever ataxic fever autumn fever barrel fever Bay fever beaver fever benign tertian fever biduoterian fever biliary fever

Related

feed a cold, starve a fever fever ague fever and ague fever blister fever bush fever grass fever lent fever of unknown origin fever pitch fever powder fever ring Fever River fever root fever sore fever therapy fever thermometer fever treatment fever tree fever twig Foshay-Mollaret cat-scratch fever syndrome febrile fervent fervid fervor

Derived

7-day fever African swine fever virus antifever Arab fever baby fever Bieber fever Botany Bay fever bovine ephemeral fever bovine infectious petechial fever bovine malignant catarrhal fever bovine petechial fever brain fever brain-fever brain-fever bird buck fever Bulam fever camp fever cat scratch fever cedar fever Charcot intermittent fever Charcot's intermittent fever drain fever enfever familial Mediterranean fever

Verb

  1. To put into a fever; to affect with fever.
    • a fevered lip
    • the white hand of a lady fever thee - c. 1606–1607 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Anthonie and Cleopatra”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London:...
  2. To become fevered.

Forms

fevers fevering fevered feaver fevre