Forms: 4 aguwe, 4–6 agew, 4–7 agu, 5 agwe, 6 agewe, 4– ague. [a. OFr. ague:—L. acūta sharp, used subst. in med. L. for an ‘acute fever,’ fièvre ague: see ACUTE a. 2.]
† 1. An acute or violent fever. Obs.
1377. Langl., P. Pl., B. XIII. 336. I cacche þe crompe … Or an ague in such an angre. Ibid. (1393), C. XXIII. 84. Bules and bocches · and brennyng Aguwes.
1494. Fabyan, VII. 377. Ye kynge was taken with suche a flixe, and therwith an agu, that he kept his bedde.
1541. Barnes, Wks. (1573), 325/1. Peters wyues mother had a gret agew.
1611. Bible, Lev. xxvi. 16. And the burning ague, that shall consume the eyes [Vulg. ardore, Wyclif brennyng.]
2. esp. A malarial fever, marked by successive fits or paroxysms, consisting of a cold, hot and sweating stage. The name ague was apparently at first given to the burning or feverish stage, but afterwards more usually to the cold or shivering stage, as being the most striking external character of the disease.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Nonne Pr. T., 140. Ye schul have a fever terciane, Or an agu, that may be youre bane.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., Agwe, sekenes, Acuta, querquera.
1579. Gosson, Sch. Abuse (Arb.), 16. Hee that hath bin shooke with a fierce ague.
1601. Shaks., Jul. Cæs., II. ii. 113. That same Ague which hath made you leane.
1678. Butler, Hudibr., III. i. 653. ’Tis but an ague that’s reverst, Whose hot fit takes the patient first.
1719. De Foe, Crusoe, I. 101. An Ague very violent; the Fit held me seven Hours, cold Fit, and hot, with faint Sweats after it.
1859. Masson, Milton, I. 142. Confined to College by an attack of ague (then the prevalent disease of the fenny Cambridge district).
3. loosely or fig. Any fit of shaking or shivering, like the cold stage of ague; quaking.
1589. Pappe w. Hatchet (1844), 14. And saies he will ergo Martin into an ague.
1596. Shaks., Merch. Ven., I. i. 23. My winde cooling my broth, Would blow me to an Ague.
1608. Bp. Hall, Epistles, I. ii. All these earthly delights! If they were sound, they are but a good day between tuo agues.
1750. Gray, Lett., in Poems (1775), 217. But soon his rhetorick forsook him … A sudden fit of ague shook him, He stood as mute as poor Macleane.
1813. Scott, Rokeby, II. xi. For not to rank nor sex confined Is this vain ague of the mind.
4. Attrib. and Comb., as in ague-fen, -fit, -sore, etc.; instrumental, as in ague-struck, -shaken, etc.: ague-like; ague-drop, a solution of potassic arseniate, used as a remedy for ague; ague-grass, a name of the Aletris farinosa; ague-proof a., proof against ague; ague-shake v., to shake as with ague; ague-shell (see quot.); ague-spell, charm against ague; AGUE-CAKE, AGUE-TREE, q.v.
1866. Kingsley, Herew., xv. 194. One who has just come from the ague-fens.
1587. Golding, De Mornay, xii. 175. What feare, and what Agewfits they susteine in following their wicked lusts.
1858. Froude, Hist. Eng., III. xv. 350. Cromwell … had an ague-fit from anxiety.
1748. Richardson, Clarissa (1811), I. 13. An ague-like lover.
1687. Clayton, in Phil. Trans., XLI. 158. Some call it Ague-grass, others Ague-root, others Star-grass.
1605. Shaks., Lear, IV. vi. 107. I am not agu-proofe.
1653. Shirley, Cupid & Death, 350. How will she ague-shake him with a frown!
1708. in Phil. Trans., XXVI. 78. Gryphites, the Hawk’s-Bill, or Ague-shell.
1745. Gay, Wks., I. 120. His Pills, his Balsams, and his Ague-spells.
