quartan

American  

[kwawr-tn] / ˈkwɔr tn /

adjective

1. (of a fever, ague, etc.) characterized by paroxysms that recur every fourth day, both days of consecutive occurrence being counted.

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noun

1. a quartan fever or ague.

2. quartan malaria.

quartan British  

/ ˈkwɔːtən /

adjective

1. (esp of a malarial fever) occurring every third day

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Etymology

Origin of quartan

1250–1300; Middle English quartaine < Old French < Latin ( febris ) quartāna quartan (fever), feminine of quartānus, equivalent to quart ( us ) fourth + -ānus -an

Example Sentences

The malaria was the quartan type and gave the Saint a chill every four days during the last twelve years of his life.

From Time Magazine Archive

Brair sat by the cheek of the peat-fire and shivered, for he had a quartan ague and this was his day. 

From Lay Morals by Stevenson, Robert Louis

He had been sick for a long while with a quartan fever, whereby his body was wasted, and he finished his life with a happy agony. 

From The Chronicle of the Canons Regular of Mount St. Agnes by Arthur, J. P.

The plague spreading in those parts, and he having struggled a long time with a quartan ague, obliged him to return home.

From In Praise of Folly Illustrated with Many Curious Cuts by Erasmus, Desiderius

But what more regular than a tertian or quartan fever?

From Ten Great Religions An Essay in Comparative Theology by Clarke, James Freeman