Definition of "hectic"

hectic

/ˈhɛktɪk/

adjective
comparative more hectic, superlative most hectic
1. (figurative) Very busy with activity and confusion.
2. (obsolete) Denoting a type of fever accompanying consumption and similar wasting diseases, characterised by flushed cheeks and dry skin.
3. (obsolete) Pertaining to or symptomatic of such a fever.
  Quotations
  Ann had a hectic cough, and many unfavourable prognostics […] .
  1788, Mary Wollstonecraft, chapter VI, in Mary: A Fiction‎
  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 […] .
  1826, [Mary Shelley], chapter I, in The Last Man. […], volume III, London: Henry Colburn, […]
noun
plural hectics
1. (obsolete) A hectic fever.
  Quotations
  […] Do it England, / For like the Hecticke in my blood he rages, / And thou muſt cure me: […]
  c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act IV, scene iii], page 273
2. (obsolete) A flush like one produced by such a fever.
  Quotations
  The poor Franciscan made no reply: a hectic of a moment pass’d across his cheek, but could not tarry […]
  1768, Mr. Yorick [pseudonym; Laurence Sterne], A Sentimental Journey through France and Italy, volume I, London: […] T. Becket and P. A. De Hondt, […], page 17
  For still he lay, and on his thin worn cheek / A purple hectic played like dying day / On the snow-tops of distant hills […]
  1819 July 15, [Lord Byron], Don Juan, London: […] Thomas Davison, […], canto II, stanza 147
  an angry hectic in each cheek, a fierce flirt of her fan, and two or three short sniffs that betokened mischief
  1863, Sheridan Le Fanu, The House by the Churchyard

Definition of "hectic"

hectic

adjective

Quotations

noun

Quotations

Quotations