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Webster 1913 Edition


Hectic

Hec′tic

,
Adj.
[F.
hectique
, Gr. [GREEK] habitual, consumptive, fr. [GREEK] habit, a habit of body or mind, fr. [GREEK] to have; akin to Skr.
sah
to overpower, endure; cf. AS.
sige
,
sigor
, victory, G.
sieg
, Goth.
sigis
. Cf.
Scheme
.]
1.
Habitual; constitutional; pertaining especially to slow waste of animal tissue, as in consumption;
as, a
hectic
type in disease; a
hectic
flush.
2.
In a hectic condition; having hectic fever; consumptive;
as, a
hectic
patient
.
Hectic fever
(Med.)
,
a fever of irritation and debility, occurring usually at a advanced stage of exhausting disease, as a in pulmonary consumption.

Hec′tic

,
Noun.
1.
(Med.)
Hectic fever.
2.
A hectic flush.
It is no living hue, but a strange
hectic
.
Byron.

Webster 1828 Edition


Hectic

HEC'TIC


Definition 2024


hectic

hectic

English

Alternative forms

Adjective

hectic (comparative more hectic, superlative most hectic)

  1. Pertaining to bodily reactions characterised by flushed or dry skin.
    hectic fever; a hectic patient
    • 1826, Mary Shelley, The Last Man, volume 3, chapter 1
      She never complained, but sleep and appetite fled from her, a slow fever preyed on her veins, her colour was hectic, and she often wept in secret [...]
  2. Very busy with activity and confusion; feverish.
    The city center is so hectic at 8 in the morning that I go to work an hour beforehand to avoid the crowds

Synonyms

Derived terms

Translations

Noun

hectic (plural hectics)

  1. (obsolete) A hectic fever.
  2. (obsolete) A flush like one produced by such a fever.
    • 1819, Lord Byron, Don Juan, II.147:
      For still he lay, and on his thin worn cheek / A purple hectic played like dying day / On the snow-tops of distant hills [...].

External links

  • hectic in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
  • hectic in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911