Dictionary entry

Typhus

Webster's Dictionary 1913

Ty″phus (?), n. [NL., fr. Gr. � smoke, cloud, stupor arising from fever; akin to � to smoke, Skr. dh�pa smoke.] (Med.) A contagious continued fever lasting from two to three weeks, attended with great prostration and cerebral disorder, and marked by a copious eruption of red spots upon the body. Also called jail fever, famine fever, putrid fever, spottled fever, etc. See Jail fever, under Jail.