Definitions

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun camp fever
  • noun madness, eccentricity

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Deolali, a British army camp 100 miles north-east of Bombay where British soldiers would stay after finishing their tour of duty, to await transport back to Britain; and tap, a Persian or Urdu word for a malarial fever (ultimately from Sanskrit tapa ("heat” or “torment"))

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Examples

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Comments

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  • Somewhat of a cousin of cabin fever, from Deolali, a town in India, and Sanskrit tapa, 'heat or torment.' See World Wide Words.

    August 21, 2008

  • Hindustani tap, meaning fever.

    November 21, 2010

  • Very interesting; when I were a whelp crazy people were often described as tap or tapped. I assumed it was from the gesture of tapping the side of one's head to indicate mental instability in another.

    November 21, 2010