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relapsing |
3 definitions found From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: Relapse \Re*lapse"\ (r?-l?ps"), v. i. [imp. & p. p. {Relapsed} (-l?pst"); p. pr & vb n. {Relapsing}.] [L. relapsus p. p. of relabi to slip back to relapse; pref. re- re- + labi to fall, slip, slide. See {Lapse}.] 1. To slip or slide back in a literal sense to turn back [Obs.] --Dryden. 2. To slide or turn back into a former state or practice; to fall back from some condition attained; -- generally in a bad sense as from a state of convalescence or amended condition; as to relapse into a stupor, into vice, or into barbarism; -- sometimes in a good sense as to relapse into slumber after being disturbed. That task performed, [preachers] relapse into themselves. --Cowper. 3. (Theol.) To fall from Christian faith into paganism, heresy, or unbelief; to backslide. They enter into the justified state, and so continue all along unless they relapse. --Waterland. From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: Relapsing \Re*laps"ing\, a. Marked by a relapse; falling back tending to return to a former worse state. {Relapsing fever} (Med.), an acute, epidemic, contagious fever, which prevails also endemically in Ireland, Russia, and some other regions. It is marked by one or two remissions of the fever, by articular and muscular pains, and by the presence, during the paroxism of spiral bacterium ({Spiroch[ae]te}) in the blood. It is not usually fatal. Called also {famine fever}, and {recurring fever}. From WordNet r 1.6 [wn]: relapsing n : a failure to maintain a higher state [syn: {backsliding}, {lapse}, {lapsing}, {recidivism}, {relapse}, {reversion}, {reverting}]
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