calenture

[kal-uhn-cher, -choor]

noun

1. Pathology.,  a violent fever with delirium, affecting persons in the tropics.

calenture

/ ˈkælənˌtjʊə /

noun

1. a mild fever of tropical climates, similar in its symptoms to sunstroke

Other Word Forms

• calentural adjective
• calenturish adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of calenture¹

1585–95; earlier calentura < Spanish: fever, equivalent to calent ( ar ) to heat (< Latin calent-, stem of calēns, present participle of calēre to be hot) + -ura -ure

Word History and Origins

Origin of calenture¹

C16: from Spanish calentura fever, ultimately from Latin calēre to be warm

Example Sentences

For example, the chapter on 'scorbutic nostalgia' — the psychological and emotional impacts of the disease, including hallucinations of food, water or home — is woven through an examination of the depression attributed to 'calenture', or sea-fever.

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While moored here, Joseph Gabriel, the Chilian, who stole the Indian king's daughter, died of a malignant calenture.

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"And that my experience was illusory, the result of vertigo, or some temporary calenture of the brain?"

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Calenture, kal′en-tūr, n. a kind of fever or delirium occurring on board ship in hot climates.

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To make matters worse, the captain again fell sick of a kind of calenture, and took to his bed.

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Related Words

• force 
• heat 
• light