məˈlerēə, -la(a)r-, -lār- noun
( -s )
Etymology: Italian, from mala aria bad air, from mala (feminine of malo bad, from Latin malus ) + aria air — more at small , aria
1. archaic
a. : air infected with a noxious substance capable of causing disease ; especially : an unhealthy exhalation from marshy soils : miasma
b. : a febrile disease believed to be caused by air infected with such noxious exhalations — often used with the
a horrid thing called the malaria — Horace Walpole
2.
a. : an acute or chronic disease caused by the presence of sporozoan parasites (genus Plasmodium ) in the red blood cells, transmitted from infected man to uninfected man by the bite of anopheline mosquitoes, and characterized by periodic attacks of chills and fever that coincide with mass destruction of blood cells and the release of toxic substances by the parasite at the end of each reproductive cycle
malaria remains the greatest single cause of debilitation and death throughout the world — Journal American Medical Association
— see falciparum malaria , vivax malaria
b. : any of various more or less similar diseases of birds and mammals caused by blood protozoans — see bird malaria