\Den"gue\ (d[e^][ng]"g[asl]), n. [See Note, below.]
(Med.)
A specific epidemic disease attended with high fever,
cutaneous eruption, and severe pains in the head and limbs,
resembling those of rheumatism; -- called also {breakbone
fever}. It occurs in India, Egypt, the West Indies, etc., is
of short duration, and rarely fatal.
Note: This disease, when it first appeared in the British
      West India Islands, was called the dandy fever, from
      the stiffness and constraint which it grave to the
      limbs and body. The Spaniards of the neighboring
      islands mistook the term for their word dengue,
      denoting prudery, which might also well express
      stiffness, and hence the term dengue became, as last,
      the name of the disease. --Tully.