Talk:constitution

RFV discussion: April–May 2020

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constitution

4. (dated) The general health of a person.

5. A person's physical makeup or temperament, especially in respect of robustness.

He has a strong constitution, so he should make a quick recovery from the illness.

Request verification that sense 4 exists separately from sense 5. See also Wiktionary:Tea_room/2020/April#constitution. Mihia (talk) 21:32, 25 April 2020 (UTC)

Here I see, “But when once his constitution began to decline, he broke very faſt”. Does that count as an attestation? Otherwise it is hard to see what would constitute verification.  --Lambiam 15:41, 26 April 2020 (UTC)

Thanks. Normally one's constitution in sense 5 is a constant, at least over the short term, so one's constitution "declining", especially quickly, does seem to suggest sense 4. Prompted by this idea, I searched for e.g. "his constitution failed/deteriorated/improved", which yielded a number of relevant hits, mostly from old books. Perhaps these will do, especially the ones that refer to a relatively rapid change. Mihia (talk) 10:21, 27 April 2020 (UTC)

cited Kiwima (talk) 22:28, 28 April 2020 (UTC)

@Kiwima: Thanks for that. I have also swapped the senses so that the more familiar modern usage comes first. Mihia (talk) 22:44, 28 April 2020 (UTC)

RFV-passed Kiwima (talk) 01:34, 4 May 2020 (UTC)