rehab
/ˈriːhab
/informal
noun
1 [mass noun] A course of treatment for drug or alcohol dependence, typically at a residential facility: the star has been in rehab for a week Mark went into rehab two years ago...
- I don't think I could have lived the rest of my life clean without the rehab I went through.
- The rehab was intense, but once I was home, I was back on-line.
2US A building that has been rehabilitated or restored: a homeowner who discovers his rehab straddles the San Andreas fault...
- A walk east of Tompkins Square Park reveals new businesses, new buildings, and rehabs fast replacing empty lots and former crack houses.
- With air quality issues in restaurants among the many legislative battles operators face in the coming decade, dropping by the site before any rehabs, redesigns or openings seems like a wise move.
- A contractor friend of ours who is now doing some rehab work in the house is telling us that the bedroom window is not legal.
3 (often the Rehab) [mass noun] Australian /NZ historical Financial assistance provided by the Rehabilitation Department, established to support returned servicemen after the Second World War: he’d had to bum around for a few years before approaching the Rehab [as modifier]: we were able to get a Rehab loan at three per cent...
- Rehab had a little trouble in finding him a suitable job.
- I can even apply for my rehab and crash out on my own.
- I was living in Christchurch at different times, on Rehab for a while.
verb (rehabs, rehabbing, rehabbed) [with object] North American
Rehabilitate or restore: they don’t rehab you at all in jail (as adjective rehabbed) newly rehabbed apartments for rent...
- When I was rehabbing my knees, I worked on my upper body.
- She was already rehabbing a Manhattan town house.
- After moving in, they plotted a seven-year remodeling plan, working on their own house in between Pick's jobs rehabbing a growing list of clients' homes.
Origin
1940s: abbreviation of rehabilitate and rehabilitation.