Definition: ague
ague
n 1: a fit of shivering
2: successive stages of chills and fever that is a symptom of
malaria [syn: chills and fever]
3: a mark (') placed above a vowel to indicate pronunciation
[syn: acute accent, acute]
Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
Ague \A"gue\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Agued.] To strike with an ague, or with a cold fit. --Heywood.
Ague \A"gue\, n. [OE. agu, ague, OF. agu, F. aigu, sharp, OF. fem. ague, LL. (febris) acuta, a sharp, acute fever, fr. L. acutus sharp. See Acute.] 1. An acute fever. [Obs.] ``Brenning agues.'' --P. Plowman. 2. (Med.) An intermittent fever, attended by alternate cold and hot fits. 3. The cold fit or rigor of the intermittent fever; as, fever and ague. 4. A chill, or state of shaking, as with cold. --Dryden. Ague cake, an enlargement of the spleen produced by ague. Ague drop, a solution of the arsenite of potassa used for ague. Ague fit, a fit of the ague. --Shak. Ague spell, a spell or charm against ague. --Gay. Ague tree, the sassafras, -- sometimes so called from the use of its root formerly, in cases of ague. [Obs.]
Source: Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary
Ague the translation in Lev. 26:16 (R.V., "fever") of the Hebrew word kaddah'ath, meaning "kindling", i.e., an inflammatory or burning fever. In Deut. 28:22 the word is rendered "fever."
