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▪ I. † eˈphemera, a. and n.1 Path. Obs.
Forms: 4–7 effimera, 6 ephimera, 7–9 ephemera; pl. 7 ephemeraes, 8–9 -æ, -as. Also in adapted forms 6–7 effimere, 6 ephimer.
[a. med.L. ephēmera (sc. febris), fem. of ephēmerus, a. Gr. ἐϕήµερος lasting only for a day, f. ἐπί (see epi-) + ἡµέρα day. The adapted forms are perh. through OF. effimere.]
A. adj. Of a fever: Lasting only for a day; ‘ephemeral’.
B. n. An ephemeral fever.
1398Trevisa Barth De P.R. vii. xxxiv. (1495) 248 Effimera, one dayes feuer is as it were the heete of one daye. 1528Paynel Salerne Regim. C, A feuer effimere is engendred of vapours and smudge fumes. 1547Boorde Brev. Health cxxxvi. 50 In Englyshe it is named the Ephimer fever..The fever doth dye that daye in the which he doth infest any man. 1585Lloyd Treas. Health R iij, Of the Agew callyd ephimera which endureth but one daye. 1625Hart Anat. Ur. ii. ix. 112 That Feauer which we call Ephemera, not exceeding foure and twentie houres. 1707Floyer Physic. Pulse-Watch 115 Ephemeras oft end in Hectics, or Intermittents, because the Pulse is a-like frequent in all of them. 1813J. Thomson Lect. Inflam. 105 The ephemera from cold may be regarded as an idiopathic fever.
▪ II. ephemera, n.2|ɪˈfɛmərə|
Pl. ephemeræ, -as.
[a. mod.L. ephēmera (? sc. musca): see prec.
In med.L. ephemera was neut. pl., a. Gr. ἐϕήµερα used in this sense by Aristotle (see ephemeron). The earlier Eng. instances are possibly due to the common practice of treating plurals in -a as sing. Linnæus however used the word as fem., making it the name of a genus (of much wider extent than the genus now so called.)]
1. An insect that (in its imago or winged form) lives only for a day. In mod. entomology the name of a genus of pseudo-neuropterous insects belonging to the group Ephemeridæ (Day-flies, May-flies).
1677Hale Prim. Orig. Man. ii. vi. 170 But Ephemeraes in duration, and little other than Insects in extent. 1750Johnson Rambler No. 82 ⁋7, I..have discovered a new ephemera. 1813Bingley Anim. Biog. (ed. 4) III. 235 The Common Ephemera, or Day-fly. 1873Dawson Earth & Man vi. 136 Shad-flies or ephemeras, which spend their earlier days under water.
2. transf. and fig. One who or something which has a transitory existence.
1751Johnson Rambler No. 145 ⁋11 These papers of a day, the Ephemeræ of learning. 1785Crabbe Newspaper Wks. 1834 II. 119 These base ephemeras, so born To die before the next revolving morn. 1815Scribbleomania 58 When the new-fangled ephemeræ of fashion shall be no more. 1886H. F. Lester Under 2 Fig Trees 33 [A charwoman is] a kind of domestic ephemera which flutters briefly in the scullery and then is seen no more. |