[fee-ver] 
| 1. | an abnormal condition of the body, characterized by undue rise in temperature, quickening of the pulse, and disturbance of various body functions. |
| 2. | an abnormally high body temperature. |
| 3. | the number of degrees of such a temperature above the normal. |
| 4. | any of a group of diseases in which high temperature is a prominent symptom: scarlet fever. |
| 5. | intense nervous excitement: The audience was in a fever of anticipation. |
| 6. | to affect with or as with fever: The excitement fevered him. |
| fe·ver (fē'vər) n.
v. tr. To effect fever in. v. intr. To be or become feverish. [Middle English, from Old English fefor and from Old French fievre, both from Latin febris.] |
fever fe·ver (fē'vər)
n.
Body temperature above the normal of 98.6°F (37°C). Also called pyrexia.
Any of various diseases in which there is an elevation of the body temperature above normal.
| fever (fē'vər) Pronunciation Key
A body temperature that is higher than normal. Fever is the body's natural response to the release of substances called pyrogens by infectious agents such as bacteria and viruses. The pyrogens stimulate the hypothalamus in the brain to conserve heat and increase the basal metabolic rate. |
Fever
(Deut. 28:22; Matt. 8:14; Mark 1:30; John 4:52; Acts 28:8), a burning heat, as the word so rendered denotes, which attends all febrile attacks. In all Eastern countries such diseases are very common. Peter's wife's mother is said to have suffered from a "great fever" (Luke 4:38), an instance of Luke's professional exactitude in describing disease. He adopts here the technical medical distinction, as in those times fevers were divided into the "great" and the "less."