restorative

English

Etymology

From Middle English restoratif, restoratyve, from Old French restoratif, restauratif and Medieval Latin restaurātīvus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɹɪˈstɒɹətɪv/

  • Audio (Southern England)

    (file)

• Hyphenation: re‧stora‧tive

Adjective

restorative

1. Serving to restore.

   After a long day working in the fields Clarence took comfort in a restorative pint of beer.

   • 1671, John Milton, “The Second Book”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: […] J. M[acock] for John Starkey […], →OCLC:

     Destroys life's enemy, / Hunger, with sweet restorative delight.

   • 2019, Bridget Sweet, Thinking Outside the Voice Box, page 71:

     Again, voice change is not easy and vulnerability plays a big part, but if choral teachers and adolescent singers approach it with the right mindframe, the experience can be empowering, enlightening, and restorative for all involved.

Antonyms

• nonrestorative

Derived terms

• restorative justice

Translations

Translations

• Bulgarian: тонизиращ (tonizirašt), укрепващ (bg) (ukrepvašt)
• German: erholsam (de), stärkend (de), restaurativ (de), wiederherstellend (de), regenerierend (de)
• Manx: aalaanee, aahroggalagh, avioghee, aachrooagh
• Spanish: reconstituyente
• Turkish: dinlendirici (tr), güçlendirici (tr), kuvvetlendirici (tr)

Noun

restorative (plural restoratives)

1. Something with restoring properties.
   • 1811, Jane Austen, Sense and Sensibility, Chapter 25:

     Marianne’s joy was almost a degree beyond happiness, so great was the perturbation of her spirits and her impatience to be gone. Her unwillingness to quit her mother was her only restorative to calmness; and at the moment of parting her grief on that score was excessive.

2. (euphemistic) An alcoholic drink, especially with tonic.
   • 1960, P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, chapter XIV, in Jeeves in the Offing, London: Herbert Jenkins, →OCLC:

     “Well, let's hope you're right, darling. In the meantime,” said Kipper, “if I don't get that whisky-and-soda soon, I shall disintegrate. Would you mind if I went in search of it, Mrs Travers?” “It's the very thing I was about to suggest myself. Dash along and drink your fill, my unhappy young stag at eve.” “I'm feeling rather like a restorative, too,” said Bobbie. “Me also,” I said, swept along on the tide of the popular movement. “Though I would advise,” I said, when we were outside, “making it port. More authority.”

References

• OED2

Anagrams

• arse over tit