ty·phus (t??f?s)n. Any of several forms of infectious disease caused by rickettsia, especially those transmitted by fleas, lice, or mites, and characterized generally by severe headache, sustained high fever, depression, delirium, and the eruption of red rashes on the skin. Also called prison fever, ship fever, typhus fever.[New Latin t?phus, from Greek t?phos, stupor arising from a fever, vapor, from t?phein, to smoke.]ty?phous (-f?s) adj.American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.typhus (?ta?f?s) n (Pathology) any one of a group of acute infectious rickettsial diseases characterized by high fever, skin rash, and severe headache. Also called: typhus fever [C18: from New Latin t?phus, from Greek tuphos fever; related to tuphein to smoke] ?typhous adjCollins English Dictionary ? Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014ty?phus (?ta? f?s) n. an acute infectious disease caused by several species of rickettsias, esp. Rickettsia prowazekii, transmitted by lice and fleas, and characterized by acute prostration, headache, and a peculiar eruption of reddish spots on the body. Also called ty?phus fe?ver. [1635?45;