6 August 2016
valetudinarian
[val-i-tood-n-air-ee-uh n, -tyood-]
noun
1. an invalid.
2. a person who is excessively concerned about his or her poor health or ailments.
adjective
3. in poor health; sickly; invalid.
4. excessively concerned about one’s poor health or ailments.
5. of, relating to, or characterized by invalidism.
Origin of valetudinarian
1695-1705; valetudinary + -an
Dictionary.com
Examples from the Web for valetudinarian
Historical Examples
The valetudinarian is a man subject to some affliction, imaginary or real, or it may be both.
Talkers
John Bate
This valetudinarian majority should make the youngest of us pause and reflect.
The Passionate Elopement
Compton Mackenzie
“Which is certainly not suggestive of a valetudinarian,” remarked Lucian, looking hard at the stranger.
Cashel Byron’s Profession
George Bernard Shaw
And, Sir, he is a valetudinarian, one of those who are always mending themselves.
Life of Johnson
James Boswell
What is stranger still, with all this he was something of a valetudinarian.
Loss and Gain
John Henry Newman
At my time of life, a man must expect to be a valetudinarian, and it would be unjust to blame one’s native climate for that.
Tales And Novels, Volume 5 (of 10)
Maria Edgeworth
His health was not always good, and he seems to have inclined to be a valetudinarian.
A Smaller History of Rome
William Smith and Eugene Lawrence
Like Voltaire and Rousseau, he was born dying, and he remained delicate and valetudinarian to the end.
Diderot and the Encyclopaedists (Vol 1 of 2)
John Morley
Old, used up, valetudinarian, he only revived after a sentence of death.
History of the Commune of 1871
P. Lissagary
In the vain hope of offspring Charles sacrificed his niece, Christina of Denmark, to the valetudinarian duke.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 5, Slice 8
Various
Anagram
a natural divine
ail unit veranda
radial tuna vine
Today’s quote
People need to be made more aware of the need to work at learning how to live because life is so quick and sometimes it goes away too quickly.
– Andy Warhol
On this day
6 August 1661 – Holland sells Brazil to Portugal for 8 million guilders.
6 August 1806 – The Holy Roman Empire comes to an inglorious end at the hands of Napoleon.
6 August 1928 – birth of Andy Warhol. (Born Andrew Warhola). American artist who was a pioneer of pop art. American writer, Gore Vidal, once said, ‘Andy Warhol is the only genius I’ve ever known with an IQ of 60‘. Died 22 February 1987.
6 August 1945 – USA drops an atomic bomb, called ‘Little Boy’ on Hiroshima, Japan. It is estimated that between 70,000 to 140,000 people died within the four months of the bombing, with half that number dying on the day of the bombing.
6 August 1965 – President Lydon B. Johnson signs the Voting Rights Act which removed discriminatory voting practices against African Americans. Essentially it meant African Americans could vote freely, without having to meet qualifications that white Americans didn’t need to meet, such as literacy tests.