fever

See also: Fever

English

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Middle English fever, fevere, from Old English fefer, fefor (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

  • (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈfiːvə/
  • (General American) IPA(key): /ˈfivɚ/
  • (file)
  • Rhymes: -iːvə(ɹ)
  • Hyphenation: fe‧ver

Noun

fever (countable and uncountable, plural fevers)

  1. 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."
  2. (usually in combination with one or more preceding words) Any of various diseases.
    scarlet fever
  3. A state of excitement or anxiety.
  4. (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.

Synonyms

Hyponyms

Derived terms

some unsorted, may be hyponyms

Translations

See also

Verb

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

Further reading

  • fever in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
  • fever in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911

Anagrams

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