Hypertext Webster Gateway: "malaria"
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Malaria \Ma*la"ri*a\, n. [It., contr. fr. malaaria bad air. See
{Malice}, and Air.]
1. Air infected with some noxious substance capable of
engendering disease; esp., an unhealthy exhalation from
certain soils, as marshy or wet lands, producing fevers;
miasma.
Note: The morbific agent in malaria is supposed by some to be
a vegetable microbe or its spores, and by others to be
a very minute animal blood parasite (an infusorian).
2. (Med.) A morbid condition produced by exhalations from
decaying vegetable matter in contact with moisture, giving
rise to fever and ague and many other symptoms
characterized by their tendency to recur at definite and
usually uniform intervals.
From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)
malaria
n : an infective disease caused by sporozoan parasites that are
transmitted through the bite of an infected Anopheles
mosquito; marked by paroxysms of chills and fever
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