Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Occurring every fourth day, counting inclusively, or every 72 hours. Used of a fever.
- n. A malarial fever recurring every 72 hours.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Having to do with the fourth; especially, occurring every fourth day: as, a quartan ague or fever (one which recurs on the fourth day—that is, after three days).
- n. An intermitting ague that occurs every fourth day, both days of consecutive occurrence being counted, as on Sunday, Wednesday, Saturday, Tuesday, etc.
- n. A measure containing the fourth part of some other measure.
Wiktionary
- n. medicine, historical A fever whose symptoms recur every four days.
- adj. medicine Recurring every four days; especially in designating a form of malaria with such symptoms.
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. Of or pertaining to the fourth; occurring every fourth day, reckoning inclusively.
- n. (Med.) An intermittent fever which returns every fourth day, reckoning inclusively, that is, one in which the interval between paroxysms is two days.
- n. A measure, the fourth part of some other measure.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a malarial fever that recurs every fourth day
- adj. occurring every fourth day (especially the fever and weakness of malaria)
Etymologies
- Anglo-Norman quartaine, Old French quartaine, from Latin quartāna (short for febris quartana), noun use of feminine form of quartānus ("recurring every four days"), from quartus ("fourth"). (Wiktionary)
- Middle English quartaine, from Old French, from Latin quārtāna, from quārtānus, of the fourth, from quārtus, fourth; see kwetwer- in Indo-European roots. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“In contrast, the incubation period for quartan malaria, caused by Plasmodium malariae, can be as long as thirty or forty days, with fever coming every fourth day.”
Pestilence and Headcolds: Encountering Illness in Colonial Mexico
“Antonio de Ciudad Real happily notes the day, in Tratado curioso, when he realized that he was finally free from quartan fever (cuartanas), which had plagued him for more than three years. 64 Intermittent fevers like these were probably malarial, and these two cases could very well have originated in Spain, as their carriers had only recently arrived from the Peninsula.”
Pestilence and Headcolds: Encountering Illness in Colonial Mexico
“He admitted to having been laid low by a quartan ague but insisted it was nothing to worry about.”
“Classically, but infrequently observed, the attacks occur every second day with the "tertian" parasites (P. falciparum, P. vivax, and P. ovale) and every third day with the "quartan" parasite (P. malariae).”
“Such a deposit may be expected, when the fever is of a continual type, and that it will pass into a quartan, if it become intermittent, and its paroxysms come on in an irregular manner, and if in this form it approach autumn.”
“This disease is habitual to them both in summer and in winter, and in addition they are very subject to dropsies of a most fatal character; and in summer dysenteries, diarrheas, and protracted quartan fevers frequently seize them, and these diseases when prolonged dispose such constitutions to dropsies, and thus prove fatal.”
“If it be within the [1075] body, and not putrified, it causeth black jaundice; if putrified, a quartan ague; if it break out to the skin, leprosy; if to parts, several maladies, as scurvy, &c.”
“Pork, of all meats, is most nutritive in his own nature, [1351] but altogether unfit for such as live at ease, are any ways unsound of body or mind: too moist, full of humours, and therefore noxia delicatis, saith Savanarola, ex earum usu ut dubitetur an febris quartana generetur: naught for queasy stomachs, insomuch that frequent use of it may breed a quartan ague.”
“Guianerius gives an instance in one so caused by a quartan ague, and Montanus consil.”
“Mirabolanes, all five kinds, are happily [4207] prescribed against melancholy and quartan agues; Brassivola speaks out [4208] of a thousand experiences, he gave them in pills, decoctions, &c., look for peculiar receipts in him.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘quartan’.
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phrontistery - q
from phrontistery.info
qanat, qasida, qat, qigong, qintar, qiviut, qoph, qua, quab, quackle, quacksalver, quad and 227 more...
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Logolepsy
"Luciferous Logolepsy is a collection of over 9,000 obscure English words. Though the definition of an 'English' word might seem to be straightforward, it is not. There exist so many adopted, deriv...
Anschauung, Areopagus, Argus, Briarean, Dei gratia, Dei judicium, Deo volente, Duecento, Foehn, Geflugelte Worte, Gegenschein, Hakenkreuz and 9230 more...
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The Aubrey/Maturin List I'm Gonna Mak...
I'm wading through Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey/Maturin novels one by one, and someday, I'll wade through them again and list all the words I learned while reading them.
Edit: I started ma...studdingsail, carronade, mumchance, grumlin-futtocks, crosscat-harpings, holystone, sennit, orlop, orchitis, negus, kevel, altumal and 1112 more...
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A Matter Of Time
Favorite time-related words.
vespertine, twilight, gloaming, eftsoon, eventide, dawn, eos, dusk, witching hour, ephemeral, candlemark, autumnal and 122 more...
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C. S. Bird – Grandiloquent Dictionary
All the words from the Grandiloquent Dictionary.
946 of these 2700 words do not yield any results in six different dictionaries, hence many of them might be misspellings.
More in...abacinate, abcedarian, abderian, ablegate, abligurition, ablutophobia, abnormous, acarophobia, acathasia, accipitrine, accidia, accubitus and 2690 more...
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Awesome words
fkhdvehdhdv
ouphe, hoiden, piddle, defenestrate, flic, desist, avast, cessation, extrapolate, temerity, effrontery, presumptuousness and 54 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for quartan.
hernesheir (n): of or pertaining to the fourth of any series. Jan 16, 2009
chained_bear "Many of the sick from the inshore vessels were now aboard... with fevers of one kind or another—tertians, double tertians, remittents and quartans for the most part, though there were three cases of the yellow jack..."
--P. O'Brian, The Commodore, 242 Mar 17, 2008
chained_bear Usage in phrase quartan ague; see usage note on sequelae. Feb 24, 2008