cabin fever en · NOUN
Pronunciation
- (US) audio
Etymology
In the current sense coined or popularized in a novel of the same name in 1918. See cite below.
Meanings
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(uncountable) A condition of restlessness and irritability caused by being in a confined space.
Some residents of Alaska suffer from cabin fever when they remain indoors throughout the long, snowy winters.
Just as the body fed too long upon meat becomes a prey to that horrid disease called scurvy, so the mind fed too long upon monotony succumbs to the insidious mental ailment which the West calls "cabin fever."
1918, B. M. Bower, Cabin Fever, page 1:The novelty of a wilderness winter wore off. I began to suffer from cabin fever. I was so anxious to see someone that whenever I heard a car or truck motor, I jumped up on a chair to look out.
2004, Lois Olson, Meeting Him in the Wilderness: A True Story of Adventure and Faith, iUniverse, →ISBN, page 102:
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(obsolete, uncountable) Typhus.
The certain consequence is the low typhus or cabin fever, which at all times, and at this present moment, exists in Ireland to a degree, that in any other country would create a serious alarm.
1820, The Gentleman's Magazine, volume 128, page 139:
Deriveds
Relateds
stir-crazy · claustrophobia · log cabin
Translations (15)
ru кабинная лихорадка (psychological condition) · de Lagerkoller (psychological condition) · is inniveiki (psychological condition) · es claustrofobia (psychological condition) · tl buryong (psychological condition) · ja 閉塞感 (psychological condition) · nn brakkesjuke (psychological condition) · cs ponorka (psychological condition) · da lejrkuller (psychological condition) · fi mökkihöperyys (psychological condition) · nb brakkesjuke (psychological condition) · cy clefyd caban (psychological condition) · fr claustrophobie (psychological condition) · cs ponorková nemoc (psychological condition) · nb brakkesyke (psychological condition)