ague

[ ey-gyoo ]

noun

1. Pathology. a malarial fever characterized by regularly returning paroxysms, marked by successive cold, hot, and sweating fits.
2. a fit of fever or shivering or shaking chills, accompanied by malaise, pains in the bones and joints, etc.; chill.

ague

/ ˈeɪɡjuː /

noun

1. a fever with successive stages of fever and chills esp when caused by malaria
2. a fit of shivering

Derived Forms

• ˈaguish, adjective

Other Words From

• ague·like adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of ague¹

1250–1300; Middle English < Middle French, short for fievre ague acute fever < Latin febris acūta

Word History and Origins

Origin of ague¹

C14: from Old French ( fievre ) ague acute fever; see acute

Example Sentences

In Mund’s legal complaint, attorneys ague that the companies “failed to warn that paraquat was likely to cause neurological damage that was both permanent and cumulative, and repeated exposures were likely to cause clinically significant neurodegenerative disease, including Parkinson’s disease.”

From Los Angeles Times

Added to that, they ague their aircraft are quiet and emissions-free.

From BBC

The maker of Hostetter’s Bitters crowed that its product was popular in the tropics, “where the torrid heat exhales from dank, decaying vegetation the air-poison from which produced the worst forms of fever and ague and bilious remittent.”

From Washington Post

The next major Northwest epidemic to appear was “fever and ague,” recurring each summer during the 1830s in “interior valleys” west of the Cascades, from the Cowlitz to the Rogue rivers.

From Seattle Times

“I think you have got the ague,” said I.

From Literature