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feed a cold, starve a fever

feed a cold, starve a fever proverb: expressing the common belief that eating more will cure the common cold, and eating less will cure a fever.

Proverb

feed a cold, starve a fever

  1. Expressing the common belief that eating more will cure the common cold, and eating less will cure a fever.
    • "Feed a cold, starve a fever." There is a deal of wisdom in the first part of this advice. A person with a catarrh should take an abundance of light nutritious food, and some light wine, but avoid spirits, and above all tobacco.1887, J. H. Whelan, “The Treatment of Colds,”, in The Practitioner, volume 38, page 180
    • I have a cold. 'Feed a cold, starve a fever.' You certainly know that.1968, Katinka Loeser, The Archers at Home, New York: Atheneum, page 60

Origin of feed a cold, starve a fever

An old wives' tale that dates back to 1574 from the original "Fasting is a great remedie of fever."

Questions about feed a cold, starve a fever

What does feed a cold, starve a fever mean?
Feed a cold, starve a fever means expressing the common belief that eating more will cure the common cold, and eating less will cure a fever.
What part of speech is feed a cold, starve a fever?
Feed a cold, starve a fever is a proverb.

Words near feed a cold, starve a fever in the dictionary

  1. feebly
  2. feebs
  3. feechur
  4. feechurs
  5. feed
  6. feed a cold, starve a fever
  7. feed and water
  8. feed back
  9. feed bag
  10. feed bags
  11. feed bunk

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: feed a cold, starve a fever (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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