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Glite Dictionary
😷 A tuberculosis patient 🤺 A quick attacker
lunger

lunger

1 9.9
A person with a serious lung disease called tuberculosis, used especially in the past
  • noun
  • /ˈlʌŋər/
  • Archaic
translation icon : tuberculoso
  • The lunger struggled to breathe in the cold air.

Examples

  • After years in the mines, he became a lunger and was forced to seek treatment in the mountains.

  • The sanatorium housed many lungers hoping to recover their health.

  • Stories of lungers heading west for a cure were common in the 1800s.

  • Many lungers were treated at the sanatorium in the early 1900s.

  • During the early 20th century, many families had to care for a lunger suffering from tuberculosis.

  • In the crowded tenements of old cities, the sight of a lunger was all too common as the disease spread.

  • Her grandmother often spoke of the time when a lunger lived in the next room, constantly battling a relentless cough.

Synonyms

consumptive
vslunger
  • Archaic
9.9

A person who has tuberculosis of the lungs

is the historical everyday term rather than a literary one
tubercular
vslunger
  • Archaic
9.9

A person who has tuberculosis, usually in the lungs

is an older term used in history not a clinical label

Surface Forms

lunger singular
lungers plural

Morphology

lunger = lung (semi-transparent) = lung + er

The form clearly contains 'lung' + '-er', but the historical sense 'person with lung disease' is specialized and not a productive everyday pattern.

Etymology

The word lunger is built from lung and the ending -er, where -er means 'a person'. So, a lunger was a historical name for someone with a serious lung illness, especially tuberculosis.