phrenitis

American  

[fri-nahy-tis] / frɪˈnaɪ tɪs /

noun

Pathology.

1. inflammation of the brain; encephalitis.

2. delirium; frenzy.

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phrenitis British  

/ frɪˈnɪtɪk, frɪˈnaɪtɪs /

noun

1. another name for encephalitis

2. a state of frenzy; delirium

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Other Word Forms

• phrenitic adjective

Etymology

Origin of phrenitis

1615–25; < Late Latin phrenītis delirium, frenzy < Greek phrenîtis. See phren-, -itis

Example Sentences

The doctor who had been called in from outside named the disease phrenitis.

From The King's Achievement by Benson, Robert Hugh

Jodocus Lommius differentiated between delirium, phrenitis, melancholia and mania and described a particular variety of this last form as hydrophobia.

From The Century of Columbus by Walsh, James J.

Thus Juvenal: Cum furor haud dubius, cum sit manifesta phrenitis, Ut locuples moriaris, egenti vivere fato!

From Zoonomia, Vol. II Or, the Laws of Organic Life by Darwin, Erasmus

"We shall have this fellow in phrenitis, or laryngitis, or dothenenteritis, or some other itis, before long, if he's aggravated."

From Alton Locke, Tailor and Poet An Autobiography by Hughes, Thomas

The pulpit of the Parish Church will stand for ever before he upsets it, and he will never approach that altitude of polemical phrenitis which will induce him to smash any part of it.

From Our Churches and Chapels Their Parsons, Priests, & Congregations Being a Critical and Historical Account of Every Place of Worship in Preston by Atticus