Definition of febrifuge in English:
febrifuge
noun ˈfɛbrɪfjuːdʒˈfɛbrəˌfjudʒ
A medicine used to reduce fever.
she employed a risky febrifuge and the fever finally broke
Example sentencesExamples
- The leaves of bael are astringent, a laxative, a febrifuge and an expectorant and are useful in ophthalmia, deafness, inflammations, catarrh, diabetes and asthmatic complaints.
- It is diaphoretic, febrifuge (gets rid of fevers), emetic (in large doses), and laxative.
- Today garlic is still used as a febrifuge to assist fevers.
- The traditional use of stem bark as a febrifuge in relapsing fevers was confirmed as an extract of stem bark reduced pyrexia in comparative biological tests.
Origin
Late 17th century: from French fébrifuge, from Latin febris 'fever' + fugare 'drive away'. Compare with feverfew.
fever from Old English:
Fever has been with us since Anglo-Saxon times, when we borrowed the word from Latin febris. A fever makes you hot and bothered, and the word may ultimately go back to a root meaning ‘to be restless’. In herbal medicine the plant feverfew (Old English) was traditionally seen as a cure for fever. In Latin the name was febrifugia, from febris ‘fever’ and fugare ‘drive away’, from which we get the medical term febrifuge (late 17th century) for a drug that reduces fever. Closely related to fugare is fugere ‘to flee’ found in fugitive (Late Middle English), refuge (Late Middle English), and refugee (late 17th century).
Definition of febrifuge in US English:
febrifuge
nounˈfɛbrəˌfjudʒˈfebrəˌfyo͞oj
A medicine used to reduce fever.
she employed a risky febrifuge and the fever finally broke
Example sentencesExamples
- It is diaphoretic, febrifuge (gets rid of fevers), emetic (in large doses), and laxative.
- The leaves of bael are astringent, a laxative, a febrifuge and an expectorant and are useful in ophthalmia, deafness, inflammations, catarrh, diabetes and asthmatic complaints.
- Today garlic is still used as a febrifuge to assist fevers.
- The traditional use of stem bark as a febrifuge in relapsing fevers was confirmed as an extract of stem bark reduced pyrexia in comparative biological tests.
Origin
Late 17th century: from French fébrifuge, from Latin febris ‘fever’ + fugare ‘drive away’. Compare with feverfew.