sweating sickness

American  

noun

1. a febrile epidemic disease that appeared in the 15th and 16th centuries: characterized by profuse sweating and frequently fatal in a few hours.

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sweating sickness British  

noun

1. the nontechnical name for miliary fever

2. an acute infectious febrile disease that was widespread in Europe during the late 15th century, characterized by profuse sweating

3. a disease of cattle, esp calves, prevalent in southern Africa. Transmitted by ticks, it is characterized by sweating, hair loss, and inflammation of the mouth and eyes

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Etymology

Origin of sweating sickness

First recorded in 1495–1505

Example Sentences

She takes venlafaxine, a type of SNRI, and has common side effects that include sweating, sickness and hot flushes.

From BBC • Aug. 12, 2022

His cause of death is still debated, but it was likely to have been either the dreaded sweating sickness, a mysterious illness that caused multiple epidemics in the 15th and 16th centuries, or possibly consumption.

From Salon • Mar. 14, 2022

We also see him as a grief-stricken widower and father, whose wife and young daughters succumbed overnight to sweating sickness.

From Washington Post • Apr. 3, 2015

But what really made this year deadly was that the first epidemic of the sweating sickness fell on England, killing tens of thousands of men and women.

From The Guardian • Oct. 10, 2014

Mr. Douce observes, that these watches were “laid down 20 Henry VIII.;” and that “the Chronicles of Stow and Byddel assign the sweating sickness as a cause for discontinuing the watch.”

From The Cries of London Exhibiting Several of the Itinerant Traders of Antient and Modern Times by Smith, John Thomas