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sweating sickness

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noun

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

Origin of sweating sickness

First recorded in 1495–1505
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for sweating sickness

Historical Examples of sweating sickness

  • It was not the Black Death or the boil-pest, but the English "sweating-sickness."

    Historical Miniatures

    August Strindberg

  • It had some of the sweating-sickness symptoms, but was distinct from it in other respects.

    For the Faith

    Evelyn Everett-Green

  • To one of those ancient scourges of the population, the sweating-sickness, Dame Bunsby succumbed.

  • What if the sweating-sickness, emphatically called the English disease, were to show itself again?

    Colloquies on Society

    Robert Southey

British Dictionary definitions for sweating sickness

sweating sickness

noun

the nontechnical name for miliary fever
an acute infectious febrile disease that was widespread in Europe during the late 15th century, characterized by profuse sweating
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
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012