Middle English Dictionary Entry
agūe n.
Entry Info
| Forms | agūe n. Also agu, agewe, agwe, hage, acu(e. |
| Etymology | OF ague, from L (febris) acūta. |
Definitions (Senses and Subsenses)
1.
Acute (as opposed to chronic or intermittent) fever, or an attack of it; also, any of certain diseases, including malaria, having acute fever as a symptom; brenning ~, hote ~; pestilence ~, ?the plague.
Associated quotations
- c1325(c1300) Glo.Chron.A (Clg A.11)9118 : He willede of an lampreye to ete..anonriȝt þer after into an ague [B: augewe] he drou & deide.
- (c1390) Chaucer CT.NP.(Manly-Rickert)B.4150 : Ware the sonne in his ascensioun, Ne fynde yow nat replet of humours hote; And if it do..ye shul have a feuere terciane, Or an agu that may be youre bane.
- (a1398) *Trev.Barth.(Add 27944)75a/a : Som mete is holsom in þe feuere quarten, þat is poysone in þe agewe.
- (a1398) *Trev.Barth.(Add 27944)235b/a : Þough it were in þe most hoot ague [L in peracuta].
- ?a1400(a1338) Mannyng Chron.Pt.2 (Petyt 511)p.333 : Him toke a sekenes hard..Bot Jhesu..Reised him vp right, & passed þat hage [rime: mot he be].
- c1400(c1378) PPl.B (LdMisc 581)13.336 : I cacche..an ague in suche an angre, and some tyme a feure.
- c1400(c1378) PPl.B (LdMisc 581)20.83 : Byles, and bocches and brennyng agues.
- c1400 Daniel *Herbal (Arun 42)f.73v : For hoshede & drye cowhe, for gret huge hete on þe spirituals, for huge þrest as it fallyth ouer al þyng in acuys, souereyn helpe & remedy is aqua cucurbite, & is called by anoþer name aqua phisica, water of gowrde, water of phisic.
- ?c1400(1379) Daniel *Treat.Uroscopy (Roy 17.D.1)f.26ra (2.2) : Þan and þer come vpon him an acue, i. a sharp hote febre, þat vryn is suspecte.
- a1425 Daniel *Treat.Uroscopy (BodeMus 187:Harvey)f.27v (2.4) : If an vryn schew him white & þenne in þe byginnyng of an acu, i. of a scharp febre, it seiþ crudite of þe mater & feblehede in kynde, & þat þe malady wil longe lasten.
- a1425 Daniel *Treat.Uroscopy (Wel 225)320/4589 : If þe same maner uryn appere in wanesshynge of an acue with ony gud signe, it says warysshynge.
- ?c1425 *Chauliac(2) (Paris angl.25)50a/b : Euery ydropesie is euel in..an agewe i. scharpe feuer.
- ?c1425 *Chauliac(2) (Paris angl.25)71b/a : Fourty dayes..is the laste terme of agewes..fiftene dayes..is þe comune terme of agewes.
- (1440) PParv.(Hrl 221)8 : Agwe, sekenes: Acuta, querquera.
- c1440 Thrn.Med.Bk.(Thrn)52/21 : If it [superfluous matter causing the plague] passe nott owte bi blode latynge, it festres in some place & castes a man in-to an agewe, & makes a boche or a kille.
- a1450-1509 Rich.(Brunner)3095 : Out off agu ȝyff he be went.
- c1450 Metham Days Moon (Gar 141)149/3 : Yff so a body were take with a pestylens agwe.
- (a1460) Bokenham Sts. (Adv Abbotsford B3)97.36 (v.2:p.120) : Timon was vexid with an agu ..; as sone as Barnabe had .. red ovir hym the holi gospel .. anoon the accesse left hym.
- (a1464) Capgr.Chron.(Cmb Gg.4.12)161 : Richard..was let blede for the agu whech he had; and that blod last smet him in paralise, and aftir that he deyed.
- a1500(?a1449) ?Lydg.Diet.Interpol.(Lnsd 699)86 : [If you overeat] be war that non accesse Nor vncouth agew vnwarely the assaile.
- a1500 Peterb.Lapid.(Peterb 33)67 : Hoso berith it [diamond]..dar not not [!] dred of þe blody flyx ne of þe fowle agewe.
2.
Fig. The fever of lovesickness.
Associated quotations
- 1532(?a1405) Lydg.FCourt.(Thynne)37 : I was ful thursty in languisshyng; Myn ague was so feruent in his hete.
Supplemental Materials (draft)
Note: See also MED acute n. and acu adj.
Supplemental Materials (draft)
Note: Med., etc., see further J.Norri, Dictionary of Medical Vocabulary, s.v. ague.
Supplemental Materials (draft)
Note: Med., etc. (sense 1.), see further J.Norri, Dictionary of Medical Vocabulary, s.v. burning ague.
Supplemental Materials (draft)
Note: Med., etc. (sense 1.), see further J.Norri, Dictionary of Medical Vocabulary, s.v. hot ague.