Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Dengue
Den′gue
(dĕṉ′gā̍)
, Noun.
[See Note, below.]
(Med.)
A specific epidemic disease attended with high fever, cutaneous eruption, and severe pains in the head and limbs, resembling those of rheumatism; – called also
breakbone fever
. It occurs in India, Egypt, the West Indies, etc., is of short duration, and rarely fatal. ☞ This disease, when it first appeared in the British West India Islands, was called the dandy fever, from the stiffness and constraint which it grave to the limbs and body. The Spaniards of the neighboring islands mistook the term for their word dengue, denoting prudery, which might also well express stiffness, and hence the term
dengue
became, as last, the name of the disease. Tully.
Definition 2024
dengue
dengue
English
Noun
dengue (usually uncountable, plural dengues)
- An acute febrile disease of the (sub)tropics caused by the Dengue virus, a flavivirus, transmitted by Aedes mosquitoes, and characterized by high fever, rash, headache, and severe muscle and joint pain.
Synonyms
Translations
disease
Portuguese
Etymology 1
Borrowing from Spanish dengue.
Noun
dengue f (plural dengues)
Etymology 2
Noun
dengue m (plural dengues)
Derived terms
Spanish
Etymology 1
Uncertain. Possibly from Swahili dinga (“sudden attack, seizure”).
Noun
dengue m (plural dengues)
- dengue (disease)
Etymology 2
Noun
dengue m (plural dengues)
- playacting (overdramatic behaviour)