Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English - fever

~ n 1 an illness or a medical condition in which you have a very high temperature  (He's in bed with a fever. | Take some aspirin - it'll help the fever to go down.)  (- see also hay fever, scarlet fever, yellow fever) 2 a situation in which people feel very excited or feel very strongly about something  (a fever of excitement on Wall Street | election/carnival fever etc (=great interest or excitement about a particular activity or event)) 3 fever pitch/point/heat if people's feelings are at fever pitch etc, they are extremely excited  (The children's excitement rose to fever pitch as Christmas approached.)