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Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.

spring fever en · NOUN

Pronunciation

Meanings

  1. (idiomatic, uncountable) A feeling of invigoration and restlessness associated with the arrival of the warm weather and renewal of nature in the spring season.
    • GWF, professional, mid-thirties has spring fever. I have a lover, just want to have more sex. Any women interested in wild nights or afternoon delight? 1992 May 8, “For Sex Only (personal advertisement)”, in Gay Community News, page 12:
    • Was it a case of spring fever, or just a horse longing for its stable? Whatever the reason, one of the city's normally well-disciplined police horses bolted yesterday, injuring its rider and leading several patrol cars on a milelong chase through Lower Manhattan. 2002 April 11, Thomas Lueck, “Police Horse Bolts and Leads Officers on Chase”, in New York Times, retrieved 06 Apr 2009:
    • The air was warm and balmy, carrying that subtle current which caused the mild madness of spring fever. 1922, Zane Grey, chapter 10, in The Call of the Canyon:
    • It's spring fever. . . . And when you've got it, you want—oh, you don't quite know what it is you DO want, but it just fairly makes your heart ache, you want it so! It seems to you that mainly what you want is to get away; get away from the same old tedious things you're so used to seeing and so tired of, and set something new. 1896, Mark Twain, chapter 1, in Tom Sawyer, Detective:
  2. (idiomatic, uncountable) A feeling of laziness or listlessness associated with the arrival of the warm, comfortable weather of the spring season.
    • "Yes, missus," replied the negro, scratching his head, "de horses am berry lazy; spec dey's got de spring fever." 1867, Martha Finley, chapter 3, in Elsie Dinsmore:
    • Endymion and the Secretary, after sitting on a pier-end watching some barges, . . . were stricken with the very crisis of spring fever and lassitude. They considered the possibility of hiring one of the soldiers' two-tiered beds for the afternoon. 1910, Christopher Morley, “The Club in Hoboken”, in Plum Pudding:
  3. (Australia, obsolete, uncountable) Scurvy.

Relateds

五月病