fever

• feaver, fevre (obsolete, rare)

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.

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈfiːvə/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈfivɚ/

• Audio (US):

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• Rhymes: -iːvə(ɹ)
• Hyphenation: fe‧ver

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."

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 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, 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

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

• febrile
• fervent
• fervid
• fervor

• hyperthermia

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

   • c. 1606–1607 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Anthonie and Cleopatra”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies  (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, :

     the white hand of a lady fever thee

2. To become fevered.

• fever on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

• “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.

• fevre