(Deuteronomy 28:22; Matthew 8:14; Mark 1:30; John 4:52; Acts 28:8), a burning heat, as the word so rendered denotes, which attends all febrile attacks. In all Eastern countries such diseases are very common. Peter's wife's mother is said to have suffered from a "great fever" (Luke 4:38), an instance of Luke's professional exactitude in describing disease. He adopts here the technical medical distinction, as in those times fevers were divided into the "great" and the "less."

Noah Webster's New International Dictionary of the English Language

1. (n.) A diseased state of the system, marked by increased heat, acceleration of the pulse, and a general derangement of the functions, including usually, thirst and loss of appetite. Many diseases, of which fever is the most prominent symptom, are denominated fevers; as, typhoid fever; yellow fever.

2. (n.) Excessive excitement of the passions in consequence of strong emotion; a condition of great excitement; as, this quarrel has set my blood in a fever.

3. (v. t.) To put into a fever; to affect with fever; as, a fevered lip.