health
Definition from Wiktionary, the free dictionary
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[edit] English
[edit] Etymology
From Middle English helthe, from Old English hǣlþ.
[edit] Pronunciation
[edit] Noun
health (usually uncountable; plural healths)
- The state of being free from physical or psychological disease, illness, or malfunction; wellness. [from 11th c.]
- A state of well-being or balance, often physical but sometimes also mental and social; the overall level of function of an organism from the cellular (micro) level to the social (macro) level.
- Physical condition.
- (obsolete) Cure, remedy. [11th-16th c.]
- 1485, Thomas Malory, Le Morte Darthur, Book XVII:
- And she myght have a dysshfulle of bloode of a maydyn and a clene virgyne in wylle and in worke, and a kynges doughter, that bloode sholde be her helth, for to anoynte her withall.
- 1485, Thomas Malory, Le Morte Darthur, Book XVII:
- (countable) A toast to prosperity. [from 17th c.]
- 2002, Joshua Scodel, Excess and the Mean in Early Modern English Literature, page 213:
- Strikingly, however, Waller does not deny but rather revels in the claim that healths lead to excessive drinking
- 2002, Joshua Scodel, Excess and the Mean in Early Modern English Literature, page 213:
[edit] Derived terms
[edit] Related terms
[edit] Translations
state of being free of physical or psychological disease, illness, or malfunction
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physical condition
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overall level of function of an organism
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[edit] References
- health in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
- health in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911
