fever

English Online Dictionary. What means fever‎? What does fever mean?

English

Alternative forms

• feaver, fevre (obsolete, rare)

Etymology

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

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

Noun

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.

3. (usually in combination with one or more preceding words) Any of various diseases.

   scarlet fever

4. A state of excitement or anxiety.
5. (neologism) A group of stingrays.
6. (in combination, slang, often derogatory) Sexual attraction towards a specific group of people.

Synonyms

• (higher than normal body temperature): high temperature, pyrexia (medical term), temperature
• (state of excitement): excitation, excitement, passion

Hyponyms

Derived terms

Related terms

Related terms

• febrile
• fervent
• fervid
• fervor

Translations

See also

• hyperthermia

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

• fever on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Further reading

• “fever”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “fever”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

Anagrams

• fevre