Typhus - Definitions from Dictionary.com

8 results for: Typhus

Browse Nearby Entries

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This

ty·phus

Audio Help [tahy-fuh

s] Pronunciation Key

–noun Pathology.

an acute, infectious disease caused by several species of Rickettsia, transmitted by lice and fleas, and characterized by acute prostration, headache, and a peculiar eruption of reddish spots on the body.

Also called typhus fever.

[Origin: 1635–45; < NL < Gk tŷphos vapor

]

—Related forms

typhous, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Typhus

To learn more about Typhus visit Britannica.com

American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

ty·phus Audio Help (tī'fəs) Pronunciation Key
n. Any of several forms of infectious disease caused by rickettsia, especially those transmitted by fleas, lice, or mites, and characterized generally by severe headache, sustained high fever, depression, delirium, and the eruption of red rashes on the skin. Also called prison fever, ship fever, typhus fever.

[New Latin tȳphus, from Greek tūphos, stupor arising from a fever, vapor, from tūphein, to smoke.]

ty'phous (-fəs) adj.

(Download Now or Buy the Book)

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
typhus

acute infectious fever, 1785, from Mod.L. (De Sauvages, 1759), from Gk. typhos "stupor caused by fever," lit. "smoke," from typhein "to smoke," related to typhos "blind," typhon "whirlwind," ult. origin unknown. The disease so called from the prostration that it causes.

WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This

typhus
noun
rickettsial disease transmitted by body lice and characterized by skin rash and high fever

Kernerman English Multilingual Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
typhus [ˈtaifəs] noun

a dangerous type of infectious disease, spread by lice
Example: She is suffering from typhus.

Arabic:	تيفوس
Chinese (Simplified):	斑疹伤寒
Chinese (Traditional):	斑疹傷寒
Czech:	skvrnitý tyfus
Danish:	plettyfus
Dutch:	vlektyfus
Estonian:	tüüfus
Finnish:	tyyfus
French:	typhus
German:	der Flecktyphus
Greek:	τύφος
Hungarian:	(has)tífusz
Icelandic:	dílasótt, flekkusótt
Indonesian:	tifus
Italian:	tifo

Japanese:	発疹チフス
Korean:	발진티푸스
Latvian:	izsitumu tīfs
Lithuanian:	dėmėtoji šiltinė
Norwegian:	flekktyfus
Polish:	tyfus
Portuguese (Brazil):	tifo
Portuguese (Portugal):	tifo
Romanian:	tifos
Russian:	сыпной тиф
Slovak:	škvrnitý týfus
Slovenian:	tifus
Spanish:	tifus
Swedish:	fläckfeber, fläcktyfus
Turkish:	tifüs

The American Heritage Science Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

typhus Audio Help (tī'fəs) Pronunciation Key
Any of several forms of an infectious disease caused by bacteria of the genus Rickettsia transmitted by fleas, mites, or especially lice, and characterized by severe headache, high fever, and skin rash. Louse-born bacteria that cause typhus are especially virulent and can cause epidemics of the disease, which may be fatal in people with weakened immune systems.

American Heritage New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition - Cite This Source - Share This
typhus [(teye-fuhs)]

A group of acute and contagious diseases, often fatal, marked by severe headaches and high fever. Typhus is transmitted to humans by fleas, lice, or mites that are infected with the microorganism that causes the disease.

[Chapter:] Medicine and Health

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Typhus

Ty"phoid\, a. [Typhus + -oid: cf. F. typho["i]de, Gr. ?. See Typhus.] (Med.) Of or pertaining to typhus; resembling typhus; of a low grade like typhus; as, typhoid symptoms.

Typhoid fever, a disease formerly confounded with typhus, but essentially different from the latter. It is characterized by fever, lasting usually three or more weeks, diarrh[ae]a with evacuations resembling pea soup in appearance, and prostration and muscular debility, gradually increasing and often becoming profound at the acme of the disease. Its local lesions are a scanty eruption of spots, resembling flea bites, on the belly, enlargement of the spleen, and ulceration of the intestines over the areas occupied by Peyer's glands. The virus, or contagion, of this fever is supposed to be a microscopic vegetable organism, or bacterium. Called also enteric fever. See Peyer's glands.

Typhoid state, a condition common to many diseases, characterized by profound prostration and other symptoms resembling those of typhus.

Browse Nearby Entries: