febrifuge
/ˈfɛbrɪfjuːdʒ
/- 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.
- 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.
- Today garlic is still used as a febrifuge to assist fevers.
Derivatives
febrifugal
/ adjective ...- The bark is thought to be febrifugal and is used by West Indians to alleviate rheumatism.
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).