hectic
adjective
No English definition recorded for this entry.
L337303 on Wikidata ↗Wiktionary
Pronunciation: /ˈhɛktɪk/
adj
Etymology: From Middle English etik, ethik, from Old French etique, from Medieval Latin *hecticus, from Ancient Greek ἑκτικός (hektikós, “habitual, hectic, consumptive”), from ἕξις (héxis, “a state or habit of body or of mind, condition”), from ἔχειν (ékhein, “to have, hold, be in a certain state”).
- Very busy with activity and confusion.
“The city center is so hectic at 8 in the morning that I go to work an hour beforehand to avoid the crowds”
“Phoenix:It must have been too hectic that night to clean up.”
- Denoting a type of fever accompanying consumption and similar wasting diseases, characterised by flushed cheeks and dry skin.
“hectic fever”
- Pertaining to or symptomatic of such a fever.
“Ann had a hectic cough, and many unfavourable prognostics […].”
“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 […].”
noun
Etymology: From Middle English etik, ethik, from Old French etique, from Medieval Latin *hecticus, from Ancient Greek ἑκτικός (hektikós, “habitual, hectic, consumptive”), from ἕξις (héxis, “a state or habit of body or of mind, condition”), from ἔχειν (ékhein, “to have, hold, be in a certain state”).
- A hectic fever.
“[…] Do it England, / For like the Hecticke in my blood he rages, / And thou muſt cure me: […]”
- A flush like one produced by such a fever.
“The poor Franciscan made no reply: a hectic of a moment pass’d across his cheek, but could not tarry […]”
“For still he lay, and on his thin worn cheek / A purple hectic played like dying day / On the snow-tops of distant hills […]”