Relapsing

3 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  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.


        [1913 Webster]
  
     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.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              That task performed, [preachers] relapse into
              themselves.                           --Cowper.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     3. (Theol.) To fall from Christian faith into paganism,
        heresy, or unbelief; to backslide.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              They enter into the justified state, and so continue
              all along, unless they relapse.       --Waterland.
        [1913 Webster]

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Relapsing \Re*laps"ing\, a.
     Marked by a relapse; falling back; tending to return to a
     former worse state.
     [1913 Webster]
  
     {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 ({Spirochaete}) in the blood. It is not usually
        fatal. Called also {famine fever}, and {recurring fever}.
        [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  relapsing
       n : a failure to maintain a higher state [syn: {backsliding}, {lapse},
            {lapsing}, {relapse}, {reversion}, {reverting}]