fever

buck fever

1. Nervous anticipation and excitement felt by a novice or inexperienced hunter when seeing game (not necessarily deer) for the first time. Primarily heard in US, South Africa. Calm down, son, and get that buck fever under control or you won't be able to hit the thing!2. Any feelings of nervous anticipation and excitement felt before a new experience. Primarily heard in US, South Africa. I had a bit of buck fever before my first varsity football game.See also: buck, fever

cabin fever

1. Acute anxiety, restlessness, irritability and/or depression from remaining for too long in an unstimulating and isolated or remote environment, either by oneself or with others (especially when in cramped conditions). We thought taking our family vacation in a tiny cottage out in the country would be a nice break from city life, but we all had pretty bad cabin fever after a few days.2. Any feeling of boredom or restlessness from being in one place and/or by oneself for too long. I decided to stay home on Friday night, but after a few hours by myself, I started getting cabin fever.See also: fever

run a temperature

To have an abnormally high body temperature (a fever), which is indicative of or caused by illness. Dan: "How's Pete feeling?" Marshall: "Well, he ran a temperature last night, but he seemed a lot better this morning after some rest." I think I've started running a temperature. Maybe I should go lie down.See also: run, temperature

spring fever

A feeling of often restless excitement or exuberance coinciding with the onset of warmer spring weather. It's hard enough keeping control of a class full of young children throughout the year, but it's particularly difficult once spring fever starts to spread. It's wonderful seeing the city touched by spring fever, coming alive again after the deadening winter.See also: fever, spring

feed a cold, starve a fever

Antiquated advice that suggests that someone with a cold should eat, while someone with a fever should fast. Most health experts now agree that "starving" is not the right course for either malady. My grandmother always said "feed a cold, starve a fever," but it's best to stay properly nourished even when you have a high temperature.See also: feed, fever, starve

fever pitch

A state of great excitement or turmoil. The crowd's cheering reached a fever pitch when the band finally appeared on stage. The conflict between those two is going to reach a fever pitch if someone doesn't intervene.See also: fever, pitch

run a fever

To have an abnormally high body temperature (a fever), which is indicative of or caused by illness; to have a fever. After my toddler was lethargic all day, I begin to worry that she was running a fever.See also: fever, run

at fever pitch

In a state of great excitement, fervor, or agitation. The crowd's cheering was at fever pitch when the band finally appeared on stage. The warm-up speaker will have the crowd at fever pitch by the time you get on stage.See also: fever, pitch

blanket fever

A humorous phrase that describes the impulse to stay in bed all day and not do anything as a medical condition. Molly didn't come to her 9 AM class because she said she's not feeling well, but I suspect she's got a case of blanket fever.See also: blanket, fever

barrel fever

1. slang A hangover. Well, if you don't remember last night at the bar at all, I'm not surprised you have barrel fever today!2. slang The state of being intoxicated or drunk. Well, I must have had barrel fever last night if I got up and did karaoke at the bar!3. slang A case of delirium tremens (a state of physical distress due to alcohol withdrawal, especially after chronic or heavy use). If Pop just stops drinking without being monitored by doctors, he might develop barrel fever.See also: barrel, fever

Feed a cold and starve a fever.

Prov. You should feed someone who has a cold, and withhold food from someone who has a fever.; (or, interpreted differently) If you feed someone who has a cold, that will ward off a fever. Jill: I don't feel like going out to lunch with you. I have a cold. Jane: All the more reason you should get something to eat. Feed a cold and starve a fever, you know.See also: and, cold, feed, fever, starve

run a fever and run a temperature

to have a body temperature higher than normal; to have a fever. I ran a fever when I had the flu. The baby is running a temperature and is grouchy.See also: and, fever, run, temperature

cabin fever

Distress or anxiety caused by prolonged confinement in a small or remote place, as in We've been snowed in for a week and everyone has cabin fever. Originating in the West, this term at first alluded to being penned up in a remote cabin during a long winter but has since been applied more broadly. [Late 1800s] See also: fever

run a fever

Also, run a temperature. Suffer from a body temperature higher than normal, as in She was running a fever so I kept her home from school. These idioms use run in the sense of "cause to move," in this case upward. [Early 1900s] See also: fever, run

fever pitch

COMMON If a situation or a feeling reaches fever pitch, there is a lot of emotion, excitement or activity. Rumors of the love affair hit fever pitch in the past few days after the pair were seen around Sydney. The grief provoked by his assassination has raised tensions in the area to fever pitch.See also: fever, pitch

at ˈfever pitch

in a state of great excitement or great activity: The audience was at fever pitch. I’ve never seen such excitement at a concert. ♢ We’re working at fever pitch to get the hall ready for the concert at eight.See also: fever, pitch

barrel fever

1. n. drunkenness. She seems to get barrel fever about once a week. 2. n. a hangover. Man, have I ever got barrel fever. 3. n. the delirium tremens. The old man is down with barrel fever again. See also: barrel, fever

cabin fever

Restlessness, irritability or depression resulting from prolonged confinement, as during severe winter weather. This term comes from the American West of the late 1800s, when it literally meant being stuck inside a remote cabin, a situation that could lead to fights, divorce, and occasionally even murder. It is used somewhat more loosely now. See also: fever

fever pitch

A state of extreme excitement. Dating from the mid-nineteenth century, this term alludes to the heat of a fever, or rise in body temperature. For example, “This eloquent orator aroused the crowd to a fever pitch.” See also: fever, pitch

blanket fever

A lumberjack expression for laziness, as if the woodsman had a medical reason for staying in bed instead of working.See also: blanket, fever

fever

fever,

elevation of body temperature above the normal level, which in humans is about 98&degF; (37&degC;) when measured orally. Fever is considered to be a symptom of a disorder rather than a disease in itself. Under normal conditions the heat that is generated by the burning of food by the body is dissipated through such processes as perspiration and breathing. It is believed that infectious diseases, injury to the body tissues, and other conditions that cause inflammation lead to the release of prostaglandins, a type of hormone, which bind to sites in the hypothalamus, the center of temperature control in the body. The rise in temperature that is triggered as a result acts as part of the body's defenses against infection; white blood cells become more active, and most bacteria do not thrive as well. The effects of fever on the body are weakness, exhaustion, and sometimes a depletion of body fluids through excessive perspiration. Extremely high fevers may cause convulsive reactions and eventual death. In addition to infectious diseases (such as pneumonia and tonsillitis), disorders of the brain, certain types of cancer, and severe heatstroke may cause fever. There are also cases of fever where the cause cannot be detected. Treatment includes increasing the intake of fluids and administering aspirin and other fever-reducing medications. Aspirin may be dangerous in fevers of children because of Reye's syndrome. However, primary treatment is directed at the underlying cause unless the fever is very high (above 104&degF;/40&degC;). Persons with such dangerously high fevers are sometimes sponged with cool water or immersed in cool baths.

Fever

a protective-adaptive body reaction in higher animals and man, expressed in the abnormal elevation of body temperature, which developed during the course of evolution.

In the past, all illnesses accompanied by high temperatures were called fevers. Although modern science shows that fevers are not independent diseases, the names of a number of diseases have retained the term (as, for example, in Q fever, phlebotomus fever, and metal fume fever). Fever is the reaction of the thermoregulatory apparatus to those macromolecular substances, called pyrogens, that affect the chemoreceptors. Pyrogens are classified as either exogenous, that is, entering the body from without (for example, microbes and the products of their life activities), or endogenous, that is, formed in the body itself (for example, products secreted by leukocytes in the process of phagocytosis or substances that appear as a result of damage to the cell-tissue structure).

The temporary reorganization of the regulatory mechanism of heat exchange in order to maintain the higher body temperature (as, for example, in the retention of the capacity to regulate temperature at a new level during muscular work or temperature fluctuations in the external environment) distinguishes fever from thermoregulatory disturbance, such as hyperthermia.

A special form of fever is the elevation of temperature when there has been extraordinary irritation of the sensory nerve endings in a number of organs (bile ducts, gall bladder, urethral canal) or damage to certain sections of the central nervous system (mechanical damage to the hypothalamic region). Elevated temperature is sometimes also observed to accompany mental disturbances. Although it is impossible to identify temperature changes with fever fully in all cases, the character of such changes is in many ways similar to that of fever.

There are three stages in the course of a fever: the rise, the leveling off, or acme, and the fall. In the first stage, heat production

Figure 1. Body-temperature, thermogenesis, and heat-loss curves with fever (I, II, III) and during muscular work (IV): (1) body temperature, (2) thermogenesis, (3) heat loss, (4) changes in thermal balance at various stages of fever. Crosshatched triangles indicate periods of accumulation and reduction of excess heat.

(thermogenesis) exceeds heat loss, mainly because of a decrease in the latter; in the second stage, equilibrium is established between heat formation and heat loss, the thermal balance shifting to a new, higher level; in the third stage, heat loss exceeds heat formation, mostly because of a sharp intensification in the former (see Figure 1). The fall in temperature in the third stage can occur gradually (lysis) or abruptly and rapidly (crisis). A critical fall in temperature, as a result of a concomitant abrupt dilation of the peripheral vessels, can lead to acute vascular insufficiency, or collapse.

When there is fever, the activities of all organs and systems are reorganized and the metabolism is altered. This is due not only to the elevated body temperature but also to the pathogenesis of the primary disease. In addition, the decomposition of proteins and the oxidation of carbohydrates and fats are intensified, and water and certain electrolytes tend to be retained in the body. Respiration and the rhythm of heart contractions are accelerated. In the first stage, the peripheral vessels are constricted; in the second and third stages, they are dilated. Glandular secretion in the digestive tract is suppressed. Disturbances of the activity of the central nervous system may be observed with particularly high fevers.

Fever is classified, according to the degree of temperature rise, as subfebrile (increases to 37.1°–37.9°C), moderate (38°–39.5°C), high (39.6°–40.9°C), and hyperpyretic (41°C and higher; in man, to 42°C). During the second stage, the fever may be characterized as continued, where daily fluctuations do not exceed 1°C (for example, with lobar pneumonia; see Figure 2); remittent, with daily fluctuations as great as 2°C (for example, certain forms of tuberculosis); intermittent, with falls during the daily minimum to normal or below normal; or hectic, with daily fluctuations as great as 3°–4°C (for example, with sepsis or severe, progressive tuberculosis). A disturbance of the diurnal temperature rhythm (a rise in temperature in the morning hours and a decrease in the evening) is characteristic of a perverted, atypical fever.

Figure 2. Temperature curve (continued type) in lobar pneumonia

Fever stimulates the immune processes and suppresses the action of the infectious agent. For this reason, artificially induced fever is sometimes used in medical practice (for example, in the fourth stage of syphilis, with schizophrenia, and with epidemic encephalitis).

REFERENCES

Veselkin, P. N. Likhoradka. Moscow, 1963.
Mnogotomnoe rukovodstvo po patologicheskoi fiziologii, vol. 2. Moscow, 1966.

V. A. FROLOV

fever

[′fē·vər] (medicine) An elevation in the central body temperature of warm-blooded animals caused by abnormal functioning of the thermoregulatory mechanisms.

fever

1. an abnormally high body temperature, accompanied by a fast pulse rate, dry skin, etc. 2. any of various diseases, such as yellow fever or scarlet fever, characterized by a high temperature

See fever

fever

fe·ver

fever

fe•ver

fe·ver

fever

fever

fever

fever

fever

buck fever

cabin fever

run a temperature

spring fever

feed a cold, starve a fever

fever pitch

run a fever

at fever pitch

blanket fever

barrel fever

Feed a cold and starve a fever.

run a fever and run a temperature

cabin fever

run a fever

fever pitch

at ˈfever pitch

barrel fever

cabin fever

fever pitch

blanket fever

fever

fever,

Fever

REFERENCES

fever

fever

FEVER

fever

Synonyms for fever

noun ague

Synonyms

noun excitement

Synonyms

Synonyms for fever

noun a rise in the temperature of the body

Synonyms

Related Words

noun intense nervous anticipation

Related Words