sick list
1
4.8
- noun
- /sɪk lɪst/
- Archaic
:
lista de enfermos
- Freddie's been on the sick list the last few days.
Examples
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I'm not anxious to get off the sick list.
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I'm placing you on sick list.
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How about putting us on sick list?
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Okay, you go on sick list.
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I've been on the sick list. "Of course not.
Fiction book (1994) -
You see, Jennings, there are certain advantages to being on the sick list.
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The sick list.
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More often, I concentrated on smuggling healthy prisoners in danger of being killed or shipped to a death camp onto a sick list, into the hospital, and relative safety.
Fiction book (1994) -
Two of them, Miss Campbell and Mrs. Kellogg, have been on the sick list the last two weeks (actually a form of the flu), and Miss C's return is somewhat doubtful.
Academic text (1990) -
Freddie's been on the sick list the last few days due to his illness.
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'a list of people absent because of illness' is directly and transparently composed from 'sick' (ill) + 'list' (a recorded sequence of names/items); the constituents combine in a straightforward modifier + noun pattern. This is a common, compositional noun‑phrase pattern with clear cross‑linguistic parallels, so a B1 learner who knows both words would readily infer the MWE's meaning.
Etymology
Sick list comes from workplaces and the military where the names of people who were sick were written on a list or board so managers or officers could see who was away. That's why sick list now means 'a list of people absent because of illness'.