blackwater fever

noun

: a febrile complication of repeated malarial attacks that is characterized especially by extensive kidney damage and urine discolored by heme from blood

Examples of blackwater fever in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

And while Europeans may have only counted their African conscripts and calculated their value as tools, one image, a handwritten ledger, lists causes of death—typhus, blackwater fever, mauled by a lion—along with their names. —Heidi Waleson, WSJ, 10 Dec. 2018

Word History

First Known Use

1884, in the meaning defined above

Medical Definition

blackwater fever

noun

: a rare febrile complication of repeated malarial attacks that is marked by destruction of blood cells with hemoglobinuria and extensive kidney damage