brain fever
1
9.9
- noun
- /breɪn ˈfiːvər/
- Archaic
:
fiebre cerebral
- During the outbreak, many children were hospitalized with brain fever caused by bacterial infection.
Examples
-
The doctor diagnosed her with brain fever after observing her severe symptoms.
-
Our captain has contracted brain fever, so we put in here for help.
-
- It's the brain fever.
-
Could mean brain fever, blindness, maybe worse.
-
My father believes tales of romance caused the brain fever that killed my mother.
-
He's suffering from a violent brain fever.
-
Rachel had an excitable temperament, and was struck with brain fever.
Blog text (7) -
HE SURVIVED BRAIN FEVER WHEN HE --
-
In the past, brain fever was feared due to its mysterious nature and high mortality rate.
Synonyms
52
6.5
A serious infection that makes the thin layers around the brain and spinal cord swell and cause headache and fever
16
8.6
A serious illness that makes the brain swell, often from a virus
1
9.9
Inflammation of the brain, the tissues around it, and the spinal cord
A brain infection causing fever, headache and confusion
A serious infection caused by bacteria that makes the thin layers around the brain and spinal cord swell
A serious bacterial infection that affects the coverings of the brain and spinal cord and often causes meningitis
A swelling and irritation of the brain usually caused by a virus
Antonyms
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase is compositionally interpretable as a 'fever of the brain' so a learner who knows 'brain' and 'fever' can infer it refers to a serious illness involving the brain. However, its specific medical sense (severe inflammation/meningitis) and somewhat archaic usage are not fully predictable from the parts at B1 level, making the relation only partially transparent.
Etymology
Brain fever comes from old medicine when a very high fever seemed to attack the brain, making people confused and act strangely. So the phrase was used for very serious brain illness and later came to mean 'severe inflammation of the brain'.