-
- To save this word, you'll need to log in.
trench fever
noun
: a disease that is usually marked by fever and pain in muscles, bones, and joints and that is caused by a bacterium (Bartonella quintana synonym Rochalimaea quintana) transmitted by the human body louse (Pediculus humanus humanus)
Examples of trench fever in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
These diseases are trench fever, epidemic typhus, and louse-borne relapsing fever.54
Summary
Body lice are tiny insects that live in bedding and clothes and feed on human blood.
—Josephine Hessert, Verywell Health, 2 Dec. 2024
Body lice, which feed on your blood and nothing else, spread many diseases, including typhus and trench fever.
—Discover Magazine, 7 July 2011
Infectious diseases ran rampant during World War I, with ailments ranging from influenza to trench fever, meningitis and pneumonia plaguing soldiers stationed on the frontlines.
—Isis Davis-Marks, Smithsonian Magazine, 4 Dec. 2020
An estimated 380,000 to 520,000 British soldiers contracted trench fever during World War I.
—Isis Davis-Marks, Smithsonian Magazine, 4 Dec. 2020
The most recent addition to the author’s oeuvre, The Fall of Gondolin, was published in August 2018 but originally written more than a century earlier, when Tolkien was recovering from trench fever in 1917.
—Theresa MacHemer, Smithsonian Magazine, 17 Jan. 2020
But whereas body lice can spread diseases, including epidemic typhus, trench fever and even the plague, head lice have never been blamed for any such outbreak.
—Karen Weintraub, Scientific American, 1 June 2017
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Word History
First Known Use
1915, in the meaning defined above
Dictionary Entries Near trench fever
Cite this Entry
“Trench fever.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/trench%20fever. Accessed 25 Dec. 2024.
Medical Definition
trench fever
noun
: a disease that is usually marked by fever and pain in muscles, bones, and joints and that is caused by a bacterium (Bartonella quintana synonym Rochalimaea quintana) transmitted by the human body louse (Pediculus humanus humanus)
More from Merriam-Webster on trench fever
Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about trench fever
Love words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share