[Late L. tȳphus in sense 1, and mod.L. (De Sauvages, 1759) in sense 2, ad. Gr. τῦφος smoke, vapor, conceit, vanity, stupor, f. τύφειν to smoke, smolder. So (in sense 2) F. typhus, Sp. tifus, Pg. typho, Sp. and It. tifo.]
† 1. Pride, haughtiness, conceit. Obs.
1643. Tuckney, Balme of G., 31. To bring down our loftinesse and pride,… to take down the Typhus of a Britannia triumphans, as some few yeares since we vainly boasted.
[1681. Ess. Peace & Truth Ch., 18. Proud and haughty Prelates (full of that Typhus Secularis—The old bane of the Church).]
2. Path. An acute infectious fever, characterized by great prostration and a petechial eruption; chiefly occurring in crowded tenements, etc.
1785. D. Campbell, Observ. Typhus, 7. We shall therefore, in speaking of this fever, either employ the technical term Typhus; or call it a low contagious fever.
1822–9. Good, Study Med. (ed. 3), II. 239. The heavier, severer, or putrid typhus chiefly differs from the mild in the violence and rapidity of its march.
1866. A. Flint, Princ. Med. (1880), 967. The fever called typhus, known from the earliest antiquity, has received a great variety of names. The name typhus, introduced by Sauvages in 1759,… derived from τυφος, denoting stupor,… relates to a feature … usually more or less prominent in this disease.
1875. B. W. Richardson, Dis. Mod. Life, ii. 14. The black death is still represented in malignant typhus.
1897. Allbutt’s Syst. Med., II. 354. Previous to the time of de Sauvages typhus was known as ‘Pestilential’ or ‘Putrid Fever,’ or by some name suggested by the eruption or expressive of the locality in which it appeared, as ‘Camp,’ ‘Jail,’ ‘Hospital’ or ‘Ship Fever.’
b. Also typhus fever.
1789. G. Buchanan (title), Treatise on the Typhus Fever.
1818. Scott, Lett. to Laidlaw, March, in Lockhart. Many of the better ranks are ill of the typhus fever.
1877. Roberts, Handbk. Med. (ed. 3), I. 110. Typhus fever is generated by a specific poison, and is highly contagious.
c. attrid., as typhus case, contagion, epidemic, eruption, patient.
1799. J. Franks (title), On the Non-Existence of Typhus Contagion.
1843. R. J. Graves, Syst. Clin. Med., iv. 41. The chief causes of typhus epidemics.
1876. Bristowe, The. & Pract. Med. (1878), 189. It is important that typhus patients should be treated in large, airy, well-ventilated chambers.
1885–8. Fagge & Pye-Smith, Princ. Med. (ed. 2), I. 146. He had headache and fever, and the typhus eruption followed in due course.
