reconvalescentn.adj.
/ˌriːkɒnvəˈlɛsnt/, U.S. /ˌriˌkɑnvəˈlɛs(ə)nt/ A. n.
A person who has recovered from illness or injury.
ΚΠ
1758 A. Mitchell Jrnl. 9 June in Mem. & Papers (1850) II. xi. 26 There were with it 7m. men, recruits, and re-convalescents, with some hundreds dragoons and hussars.
1806 Edinb. Med. & Surg. Jrnl. 2 482 The co-operation of the physician, patient, and reconvalescent, to support the powers of the stomach.
1838 F. Lieber Man. Polit. Ethics I. i. 2 The grateful reconvalescent dedicated the table[t] to the deity, by whose assistance he supposed himself to have recovered.
1992 S. Rossel Hist. Danish Lit. iv. 202 The various poems..consist of psychological snapshots..an old, impractical pedant (a contrast to Frits of the novella), a beggar, a reconvalescent and his experience of the Danish summer, and the teenaged couple Hans and Trine.
B. adj.
That has recovered from illness or injury. Also figurative. rare.
ΚΠ
1836 F. L. G. Raumer tr. Mary Queen of Scots Let. in Contrib. to Mod. Hist. I. 194 By the pleasure of God, and the help of your learned physicians, I am perfectly reconvalescent.
1871 Standard 14 Jan. The glowing patriotism of the reconvalescent soldiers has perhaps not abated.
1922 Appleton (Wisconsin) Post-Crescent 4 Apr. 4/5 The Soviet government will bring about a resumption of intercourse between reconvalescent Russia and France.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2009; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.adj.1758