subs. phr. (colloquial).—A craze for the boards: hence STAGE-STRUCK.
c. 1710. [J. ASHTON, Social Life in Reign of Queen Anne, II. 21]. He was intended for the Church, but he caught STAGE FEVER, ran away from school at the age of 17, and joined the theatre at Dublin.
1821. SCOTT, The Pirate, xxxix. The false tones and exaggerated gesture of the STAGE-STRUCK pirate.
1851–61. H. MAYHEW, London Labour and the London Poor, III. 142. Some of the young fellows stick in their parts. They get the STAGE FEVER, and knocking in the knees.
