jail fever

British  

noun

1. a former name for typhus, once a common disease in jails

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Example Sentences

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jail fever

Among the possibilities mentioned were jail fever, camp fever, eruptive military fever, and autumnal fever.

From "An American Plague: The True and Terrifying Story of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793" by Jim Murphy

As the spring advanced, the men, contrary to my expectation, became more desponding, and the Typhus fever, or rather the jail fever, appeared among them.

From A Journal of a Young Man of Massachusetts, 2nd ed. Late A Surgeon On Board An American Privateer, Who Was Captured At Sea By The British, In May, Eighteen Hundred And Thirteen, And Was Confined First, At Melville Island, Halifax, Then At Chatham, In England ... And Last, At Dartmoor Prison. Interspersed With Observations, Anecdotes And Remarks, Tending To Illustrate The Moral And Political Characters Of Three Nations. To Which Is Added, A Correct Engraving Of Dartmoor Prison, Representing The Massacre Of American Prisoners, Written By Himself. by Waterhouse, Benjamin

For the jail fever, see Lecky, vol. i, pp. 500-503.

From History of the Warfare of Science with Theology in Christendom by White, Andrew Dickson

Many of them courted acquaintance with the Quakeress who hesitated not to plunge into gloomy prison-cells, nor to penetrate pest-houses decimated with jail fever, in pursuance of her mission.

From Elizabeth Fry by Pitman, Mrs. E. R.

A few days after our arrival I was laid low by a mild attack of jail fever, of which I had doubtless brought the seeds from St. Malo.

From Humphrey Bold A Story of the Times of Benbow by Strang, Herbert