| quintan | Occurring as the fifth, after four others also, occurring every fifth day, reckoning inclusively; as, a quintan fever. <medicine> An intermittent fever which returns every fifth day, reckoning inclusively, or in which the intermission lasts three days. Origin: L. Quintanus, fr. Quintus fifth, quinque five. See Five. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
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| quintan fever | A louse-borne disease first recognised in the trenches of world war i (and so called trench fever), again a major problem in the military in world war II, seen endemically in mexico, n. Africa, e, europe, and elsewhere. The cause, rochalimaea quintana, is an unusual rickettsia that multiplies in the gut of the body louse. Transmission to people can occur by rubbing infected louse feces into abraded (scuffed) skin or conjunctiva (whites of the eyes). Onset of symptoms is sudden, with high fever, headache, back and leg pain and a fleeting rash. Recovery takes a month or more. Relapses are common. Quintan means recurring every 5 days and refers to the fever. Also called five-day fever. Other names include wolhynia fever, shin bone fever, meuse fever, his' disease, his-werner disease, werner-his disease. (12 Dec 1998) |
| quintessence | 1. The fifth or last and highest essence or power in a natural body. See Ferment oils, under Ferment. The ancient Greeks recognised four elements, fire, air, water, and earth. The Pythagoreans added a fifth and called it nether, the fifth essence, which they said flew upward at creation and out of it the stars were made. The alchemists sometimes considered alcohol, or the ferment oils, as the fifth essence. 2. Hence: An extract from anything, containing its rarest virtue, or most subtle and essential constituent in a small quantity; pure or concentrated essence. "Let there be light, said God; and forthwith light Ethereal, first of things, quintessence pure, Sprung from the deep." (Milton) Origin: F, fr. L. Quinta essentia fifth essence. See Quint, and Essence. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| quintic | <mathematics> A quantic of the fifth degree. See Quantic. Origin: L. Quintus fifth, fr. Quinque five. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| quintile | <astronomy> The aspect of planets when separated the fifth part of the zodiac, or 72 deg . Origin: F. Quintil aspect, fr. L. Quintus the fifth. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| quintine | <botany> The embryonic sac of an ovule, sometimes regarded as an innermost fifth integument. Cf. Quartine, and Tercine. Origin: L. Quintus the fifth: cf. F. Quintine. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| quintuple-ribbed | <botany> The same as Quinquenerved. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| quintuplet | One of five children born at one birth. Origin: L. Quintuplex, fivefold (05 Mar 2000) |