lurgy
Chiefly preceded by theChiefly preceded by the.: A non-specific (often infectious) disease, especially one with symptoms similar to those of a cold or flu, which renders one unfit to attend social events, go to work, etc.
» Tom's caught some kind of lurgy.
Том подхватил какую-то болячку.
Том підхопив якусь болячку.
Meaning
2 sensesChiefly preceded by the.
(Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, UK, broadly, countable, humorous, possibly, slang, uncountable)A non-specific (often infectious) disease, especially one with symptoms similar to those of a cold or flu, which renders one unfit to attend social events, go to work, etc.
the dreaded lurgy
(Ireland, archaic, countable, humorous, slang, uncountable)Idleness or laziness regarded as a medical condition; also, depression, especially resulting from a hangover.
Examples
1 sentencesTom's caught some kind of lurgy.
Том підхопив якусь болячку. — deniko
ruТом подхватил какую-то болячку. — Ooneykcall
Origin
The noun is derived from fever-lurgy, possibly influenced by or related to lurk (“to hangThe noun is derived from fever-lurgy, possibly influenced by or related to lurk (“to hang out or wait”). Fever-lurgy is possibly a variant of fever lurden (“idleness regarded as a medical condition”), from fever + lurden, lurdane (“used as a general term of abuse for a person, especially one regarded as dull or idle: loafer, sluggard”). Lurden, lurdane is derived from Middle English lurdan (“coward; good-for-nothing person, fool, rascal; lazy person; low-born or ill-mannered person; unfortunate person; wicked person”), from Old French lordin, lourdin, from lourd, lourt, lorz (“clumsy, oafish; heavy”) (modern French lourd) + -in (suffix forming derogatory or diminutive nouns); and lourd from Late Latin lordus, lurdus (“clumsy; heavy slow; stupid”), probably from Latin lūridus (“sallow, wan; ghastly, horrifying”), possibly from lūror (“lividness; paleness, pallor”) (possibly ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(s)leh₃y- (“bluish”)) + -idus (suffix meaning ‘tending to’ forming adjectives).
Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
Forms
plural: lurgiesSynonyms
3 synonymsWord family
2 related wordsLessons for this word
1 lessons- A1Countable and uncountable nouns — Because it can be uncountable