ague

American  

[ey-gyoo] / ˈeɪ gyu /

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.

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ague British  

/ ˈeɪɡjuː /

noun

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

2. a fit of shivering

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Other Word Forms

• aguelike adjective
• aguish adjective

Etymology

Origin of ague

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

Example Sentences

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

From BBC • Dec. 22, 2022

Don’t come straggling into the office one morning muttering, “First, gout. Now ague, biliousness, lumbago, Saint Vitus’s dance and dropsy. What’s next, apoplexy?”

From Washington Post • Aug. 16, 2019

So while Shakespeare had his "canker in the bud", voguish words such as palsy, purge, apoplexy, ague and balm were used by Donne repeatedly to make his work sound cutting-edge.

From The Guardian • Nov. 24, 2012

This too shall pass, when the final games ends; and World Cup fever will again abate into soccer ague.

From Time • Jul. 10, 2010

It frightened and amazed me somewhat; and as for Arthur, he fell a-trembling, and finally was shaken with doubt as with an ague.

From "Dracula" by Bram Stoker