fever
//ˈfiːvə//
Forms
- Plural
- fevers
- present (v1)
- fever
- past (v2)
- fevered
- past participle (v3)
- fevered
- present participle
- fevering
- 3rd person singular
- fevers
Definitions
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.
2.Any of various diseases.
- Tom didn't have a fever this morning.
- I have a high fever.
3.A state of excitement or anxiety.
- Tom didn't have a fever this morning.
- I have a high fever.
4.A group of stingrays.
- She threw up her hands in excitement and the ball of water flew right into the pathway of the fever 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.
- 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.
1.To put into a fever; to affect with fever.
2.To become fevered.
Frequency
Overall
Rare· #4583
By learning goal
- Everyday conversation
- Rare
- General reading & writing
- Rare
- Academic
- Rare
- Literature
- 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”).
Displaced native Old English hriþ (“fever”).