typhus Definition
ty·phus (tī′fəs)
noun
an acute infectious disease caused by various rickettsiae (esp. Rickettsia prowazekii) transmitted to people by the bite of fleas, lice, etc., and characterized by fever, headache, and an eruption of red spots on the skin: in full typhus fever
Etymology: ModL < Gr typhos, vapor, fever, stupor, akin to typhein, to smoke, be cloudy < IE base *dheu-: see dull
typhus Related Forms
ty′·phous (-fəs) adjective
typhus Usage Examples
Converse of object
- contract: There he was " employed " as a medical orderly, until he again contracted typhus.
- have: He stated that twelve persons occupied the house, and that seven of them had typhus.
- catch: After he had caught typhus, he was captured by the Red Army in the course of a Black retreat.
- bear: During the Russian revolution, it is thought that three million people died from louse borne typhus.
- develop: Following a postmortem in 1838 he developed typhus and almost died.
Adjective modifier
- endemic: There was no vaccine for endemic typhus in the Great War.
- louse-borne: These include infections of the skin and eyes ( e.g. trachoma ) and infections carried by lice, e.g. louse-borne epidemic typhus.
- tick-borne: The group includes epidemic and endemic typhus fevers, tick-borne typhus, scrub typhus and Rocky Mountain spotted fever.
- murine: The term ' murine typhus ' is used for salmonella in animals.
- spotted: Typhoid fever and spotted typhus caused an excessively high number of deaths.
- e.g.: These include infections of the skin and eyes ( e.g. trachoma ) and infections carried by lice, e.g. louse-borne epidemic typhus.
Modifies a noun
- fever: He died of typhus fever in Crail on 15 October 1865, aged nineteen.
- epidemic: There is mention of a typhus epidemic in 1891 which resulted in 29 deaths.
- case: During that year, 115 fever patients were admitted, over half being typhus cases.
- victim: Photo: American dignitaries inspect typhus victims at Buchenwald camp [ from Irving collection ] Quick navigation Mr Irving, take me to.. .
- bacillus: In fact we even encouraged the underground resistance movements to spread typhus bacilli among their enemies.
- patient: He was never delirious the way most typhus patients are.
Noun used with modifier
Browse dictionary entries near typhus
- ‹ typhoon
- ‹ Typhon
- ‹ Typhoid Mary
- ‹ typhoid
- ‹ Typhoeus
- ‹ typho-
- ‹ typhlitis
- ‹ typewritten
- ‹ typewriting
- ‹ typewriter
- typical ›
- typify ›
- typing ›
- typist ›
- typo ›
- typo- ›
- typographer ›
- typographic ›
- typographical ›
- typography ›

