Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A medication that reduces fever; an antipyretic.
- adjective Acting to reduce fever.
from The Century Dictionary.
- Serving to dispel or reduce fever; alexipyretic.
- noun Any medicine that reduces fever.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun (Med.) A medicine serving to mitigate or remove fever.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun An
antipyretic (fever-reducing)medication .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun any medicine that lowers body temperature to prevent or alleviate fever
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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His mother evidently expected that both he and she herself would be relieved on the spot, but the Apothecary durst not be hopeful, though he gave the child a draught which he called a febrifuge, and which put him to sleep, and bade the lady take another of the like if she wished for a good night's rest.
Grisly Grisell Charlotte Mary Yonge 1862
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-- The bark of the trunk is well known as a febrifuge and emmenagogue in India.
The Medicinal Plants of the Philippines Jerome Beers Thomas 1891
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The water in which it was dipped operated as a styptic, as a febrifuge, and possessed other properties as a medical talisman.
The Talisman 2008
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‘There is fever here, sister,’ she said; ‘Richard must call Ambrose, and we must send some of the febrifuge.’
Redgauntlet 2008
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Italian, but could understand that the cordial was a febrifuge of some sort.
The Woodlanders 2006
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“If before tomorrow morning we have not given him a more energetic febrifuge,” said the reporter, “Herbert will be dead.”
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“If before tomorrow morning we have not given him a more energetic febrifuge,” said the reporter, “Herbert will be dead.”
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It is certain that we have got the knowledge of the most potent febrifuge in our pharmacopoeia from the natives of another country.
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Mukundukundu: a decoction used as a febrifuge in the same way as quinine; it grows plentifully at Shupanga, and the wood is used as masts for launches.
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He still would take no food but had a little milk, and swallowed without protest another dose of my febrifuge.
Drums of Autumn Gabaldon, Diana 1997
yarb commented on the word febrifuge
And there appeared to be no febrifuge against this double sickness, this interpenetrating fever of madness, where effect jostled cause in a wrong dimension and reality itself seemed euchred.
- Malcolm Lowry, October Ferry to Gabriola
July 30, 2008
nuttylichee commented on the word febrifuge
There was a smell of ammonia, bay rum, rum, brandy, disinfectant, and a variety of febrifuges.
- V.S. Naipaul, A House for Mr. Biswas
September 10, 2008
MaryW commented on the word febrifuge
Cinchona
James C. Whorton, The Arsenic Century: How Victorian Britain Was Poisoned at Home, Work, and Play (New York: Oxford Univ. Press, 2010)December 26, 2015