lurgy
Syllables: lur·gyUK/ˈlɜːɡi//ˈlɜɹɡi/
lurgy noun: idleness or laziness regarded as a medical condition; also, depression, especially resulting from a hangover.
Noun
lurgy (countable and uncountable, plural lurgies)
- Idleness or laziness regarded as a medical condition; also, depression, especially resulting from a hangover.
- Both in the lurgy and the gripes, / These cakes are useful things, / And fit to stop the small windpipes / Of little nasty kings.1804, William Lander, Junr., “An Advertisement”, in Works, Religious, Moral, Political, and Satyrical, Penzance, Cornwall: […] Thomas Vigurs, →OCLC, page 36
- Synonyms:
- fever lurden, fever-lurgy, lurgy-fever
- 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
- Harry. Now, you claim that if we set you up in a well-equipped laboratory, you will find the cure for almost everything. / Mike. (dramatically) Yes—including the dreaded Lurgi.1952 July 8, Spike Milligan, Larry Stephens, Jimmy Grafton, “[Untitled]”, in The Goon Show, season 2, episode 24 (BBC radio script), page 8
Adjective
lurgy
Examples of lurgy in a sentence
- He [David Cameron] was helped, of course, by his presentational skills, still present here despite a sore throat and what seemed to be a spot of the perennial conference lurgy.2011 October 5, Jonathan Freedland, “David Cameron’s speech fails to match the gravity of the times”, in Alan Rusbridger, editor, The...
- Here are seven ways to dodge the lurgy, or shrug it off sooner [subtitle]2019 January 6, Nicola Davis, “Seven ways to dodge a cold – or recover faster”, in Katharine Viner, editor, The Guardian, London: Guardian...
Synonyms of lurgy
- fever lurden
- fever-lurgy
- lurgy-fever
Forms of lurgy
| plural | lurgies |
|---|---|
| alternative form | lurgee |
| alternative form | lurgey |
| alternative form | lurgi |
Origin of lurgy
The 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). Noun sense 1.2 (“non-specific disease”) was popularized by the British radio comedy show The Goon Show (first broadcast 1951–1960), especially the episode “Lurgi Strikes Britain” (series 5...
Questions about lurgy
- What does lurgy mean?
- Lurgy means idleness or laziness regarded as a medical condition; also, depression, especially resulting from a hangover.
- How do you use lurgy in a sentence?
- He [David Cameron] was helped, of course, by his presentational skills, still present here despite a sore throat and what seemed to be a spot of the perennial conference lurgy.
- What part of speech is lurgy?
- Lurgy can be a noun or an adjective.
- How do you pronounce lurgy?
- Lurgy is pronounced /ˈlɜːɡi/ (UK).
- What is the plural of lurgy?
- The plural of lurgy is lurgies.
Words near lurgy in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: lurgy (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.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Naomi Persephone Amethyst (NaomiAmethyst)-lurgy.wav, En-au-lurgy.ogg.
Cite this entry: “lurgy.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/lurgy. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.