GC: n
S: WebMD – http://www.webmd.com/drug-medication/otc-pain-relief-10/cold-flu-fever-reducers (last access: 7 December 2014); DORLAND p. 690-695.
N: 1. earlier also feaver, late Old English fefor, fefer “fever, temperature of the body higher than normal,” from Latin febris “fever,” related to fovere “to warm, heat,” probably from PIE root dhegh- “burn” (cognates: Gothic dags, Old English dæg “day,” originally “the heat;” Greek tephra “ashes”); but some suggest a reduplication of a root represented by Sanskrit *bhur- “to be restless.”
The Latin word was adopted into most Germanic languages (German Fieber, Swedish feber, Danish feber), but not in Dutch. English spelling influenced by Old French fievre. Alternative to Old English hrið, hriðing (cognate with Old High German hritto, Irish crith, Welsh cryd, Lithuanian skriečiù). Extended sense of “intense nervous excitement” is from 1580s. Also as a verb in Old English, feferian.
2. fever, also called pyrexia, abnormally high bodily temperature or a disease of which an abnormally high temperature is characteristic. Although most often associated with infection, fever is also observed in other pathologic states, such as cancer, coronary artery occlusion, and disorders of the blood. It also may result from physiological stresses, such as strenuous exercise or ovulation, or from environmentally induced heat exhaustion or heat stroke.
Under normal conditions the temperature of deeper portions of the head and trunk does not vary by more than 1°–2° F in a day, and it does not exceed 99° F (37.22° C) in the mouth or 99.6° F (37.55° C) in the rectum. Fever can be defined as any elevation of body temperature above the normal level. Persons with fever may experience daily fluctuations of 5°–9° F above normal; peak levels tend to occur in the late afternoon.
3. Collocations: fever as high temperature.
- Adj.: high, raging | slight | glandular, rheumatic, scarlet, etc.
- Quant.: bout (bouts of fever).
- Verb + fever: have, run, suffer from | catch, come/go down with, develop | die of | bring down, reduce | be accompanied by.
- Prep.: with a fever.
S: 1. OED – http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?allowed_in_frame=0&search=fever&searchmode=none (last access: 14 December 2014). 2. EncBrit – http://global.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/205674/fever (last access: 14 December 2014). 3. http://oxforddictionary.so8848.com/search1?word=fever (last access: 27 May 2015).
SYN: pyrexia
S: EncBrit – http://global.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/205674/fever (last access: 14 December 2014)
CR: disease, quinine, sick person, tonsillitis.
