yellow fever

Definitions

1. An acute febrile illness of tropical regions, caused by a flavivirus (Yellow fever virus) and spread by certain mosquitoes, characterised by jaundice, black vomit and the absence of urination.
   uncountable
2. An attraction to ethnically East Asian men or women, expressed by non-East Asian (especially white European male or white American) people.
   figuratively, slang, uncountable
3. A lust for gold; an obsession with seeking gold ore.
   dated, figuratively, uncountable

Equivalents

18 more languages

العربيةحَمَّى صَفْرَاء

Suomikeltakuume

Gaeilgefiabhras buí

Gàidhligfiabhras-buidhe

Magyarsárgaláz

Bahasa Indonesiademam kuning

日本語黄熱

한국어황열

Nederlandsgele koorts

Polskiżółta febra

Portuguêsfebre amarela

Românăfriguri galbene

Русскийамарилле́зжёлтая лихорадка

Kiswahilihoma ya manjano

ไทยไข้เหลือง

Türkçesarıhumma

Tiếng Việtsốt vàng

Yorùbáiba pọnju-pọntọ

Examples

“The town up the road was overcome⟳ by yellow fever, he said. All travelers warned away.”

“Your girl want⟳ me, we both know⟳ / Cause she got yellow fever”

“He's got the yellow fever; Once get⟳ the sight of gold and you are poisoned.”

“An onze a day, two a day, or three—every one has the gold or yellow fever. Last⟳ night several of the most respectible American residents of this town arrived home from a visit⟳ to the gold regions.”

“But the true yellow fever that has abounded in the lower gold-bearing valleys around Guanay can possibly illustrate⟳ in sickness what takes place⟳ in actuality among the sons of men who are seduced by the lust for gold.”

“In the stories he wrote and published about the gold rush⟳, Dickens does not resolve⟳ characters' feelings of class resentment so much as explain⟳ them in non-political terms […] Dickens spreads this strain⟳ of 'yellow fever' among his characters, making their labour unrest seem both understandable and pathological.”

CEFR level