WORD FOR THE DAY

Your word for today is: revenant, n. and adj.2

revenant, n. and adj.2
 
Pronunciation: Brit. /ˈrɛvᵻnənt/, /rəvəˈnɑ̃/,  U.S. /ˈrɛvənənt/, /ˌrɛvəˈnɑnt/
 
Etymology: <  French revenant person who returns after a long absence (1690), spirit returned from the dead (1718; compare esprit revenant (1690)), spec. uses as noun of present participle of revenir to return (see revenue n.).
N.E.D. (1908) gives the non-naturalized pronunciation (rəvənaṅ) /rəvənɑ̃/.


Borrowing of the corresponding French feminine form revenante is also sometimes found, e.g.:
 
1827  T. J. Dibdin Reminisc. I. vi. 110 She will however frequently make her appearance in this narrative, not as a revenante, but prior to the period of her final departure.
 
1950  R. Macaulay World my Wilderness xxxii. 234 Did it stab and stir his senses, did he desire her still, the intruder, the revenante, returned to trouble him?
 
 A. n.
 
 1.  A person who returns from the dead; a reanimated corpse; a ghost. Also fig.
 
1823 Q. Rev. July 460 The apparition of a dead man is termed a Gienganger, that is to say, a revenant, one who ‘gangs again’
 
1828  Scott Fair Maid of Perth i, in Chron. Canongate 2nd Ser. III. 20 Nor of taking the fatal leap, had my revenant the slightest recollection.
 
1871  J. R. Lowell My Study Windows 105 The opposition to which he belonged [was] a helpless revenant from the dead and buried Colonial past.
 
1880  J. H. Shorthouse John Inglesant II. xiii. 274 The yellow glamour of the sunset..clothed in transparent radiance this shadowy revenant from the tomb.
 
1910  J. C. Lawson Mod. Greek Folklore & Anc. Greek Relig. 407 If the devil in possession of the corpse chose to agitate it and drive it out of the grave, the dead demoniac was at once a revenant.
 
1958 Times 24 Nov 12/2 Leonard Salzedo has written the concerto for this revenant among solo instruments.
 
2004 Believer Oct. 69/1 Vampires..seem to be few and far between. They are such specialized revenants when compared to ghosts.
 
 2.  A person who returns to a place.
 
1867 Q. Rev. Oct. 348 All through the day I saw revenants from the army pour in.
 
1886  E Lynn Linton Paston Carew viii, They would not visit this undesirable revenant with his insolent wealth and discreditable origin.
 
1895 Daily News 31 Aug. 4/7 The undergraduates, our fogey revenant observes, look much as they did.., in outward aspect.
 
1925 London Mag. Oct. 453/1 The old man's memory..was fickle... Sometimes the square seemed strange to this revenant, and sometimes it was so familiar as to cause a tightening of the throat.
 
1992  F. Kaplan Henry James iv. 108 He felt like a latecomer, a revenant to scenes already fully described by former travelers.
 
 B. adj.2
  
That has returned from, or as if from, the dead; resembling or reminiscent of a ghost.
 
1897  M. N. Murfree Juggler v. 122 Glimpses of the moon might shadow forth spirits revenant, but for him memory only must serve.
 
1909  R. Brooke Let. 16 Apr. (1968) 166 It looks a little like Second Childhood, doesn't it? I think it is merely the first, revenant.
 
1972 Daily Tel. 12 May (Colour Suppl.) 61/1 In Eastern Europe..thousands of villagers still believe in the malignity of the revenant dead.
 
2005 Times Lit. Suppl. 18 Mar. 29/1 The Rt Revd Harries's attention is..on the emotional force of particular images of the suffering or revenant Christ.

Written by NativeEnglish

Native English Spain is dedicated to make learning English simple, fun and affordable for Spanish people.