sweating sickness
Preserved but no longer current.
A form of malaria epidemic, which appeared in England about a century and a half after the Black Death (1485). It broke out amongst the soldiers of Rich- mond's army as a violent inflammatory fever, without boils or ulcers, after the battle of Bosworth, and lasted five weeks. Between 1485 and 1529 there were five outbreaks, the first four being confined to England and France, the fifth spreading over Germany, Turkey, and Austria.
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “sweating sickness” mean?
A form of malaria epidemic, which appeared in England about a century and a half after the Black Death (1485). It broke out amongst the soldiers of Rich- mond's army as a violent inflammatory fever, without boils or ulcers, after the battle of Bosworth, and lasted five weeks. Between 1485 and 1529 there were five outbreaks, the first four being confined to England and France, the fifth spreading over Germany, Turkey, and Austria.
Is “sweating sickness” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.