Meanings
- uncountablehuman sciencesA condition of restlessness and irritability caused by being in a confined space.
Some residents of Alaska suffer from cabin fever when they remain indoors throughout the long, snowy winters.
2 more examples
Just as the body fed too long upon meat becomes a prey to that horrid disease called scurvy, so the mind fed too long upon monotony succumbs to the insidious mental ailment which the West calls "cabin fever."
1918, B. M. Bower, Cabin Fever, page 1The novelty of a wilderness winter wore off. I began to suffer from cabin fever. I was so anxious to see someone that whenever I heard a car or truck motor, I jumped up on a chair to look out.
2004, Lois Olson, Meeting Him in the Wilderness: A True Story of Adventure and Faith, iUniverse, →ISBN, page 102 - obsoleteuncountableTyphus.
The certain consequence is the low typhus or cabin fever, which at all times, and at this present moment, exists in Ireland to a degree, that in any other country would create a serious alarm.
1820, The Gentleman's Magazine, volume 128, page 139
Origin
In the current sense coined or popularized in a novel of the same name in 1918. See cite below.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Czech ponorková nemoc, ponorka
- ponorková nemocpsychological condition
- ponorkapsychological condition
Danish lejrkuller
- lejrkullerpsychological condition
Finnish mökkihöperyys
- mökkihöperyyspsychological condition
French claustrophobie
- claustrophobiepsychological condition
German Lagerkoller
- Lagerkollerpsychological condition
Icelandic inniveiki
- inniveikipsychological condition
Japanese 閉塞感
- 閉塞感 (heisoku-kan)psychological condition
Norwegian Bokmål brakkesyke, brakkesjuke
- brakkesykepsychological condition
- brakkesjukepsychological condition
Russian кабинная лихорадка
- кабинная лихорадка (kabinnaja lixoradka)psychological condition
Spanish claustrofobia
- claustrofobiapsychological condition
Tagalog buryong
- buryongpsychological condition
Welsh clefyd caban
- clefyd cabanpsychological condition
Cite this entry
cabin fever. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cabin%20fever
“cabin fever.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cabin%20fever. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “cabin fever,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cabin%20fever.
Source: cabin fever on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.