rebound

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English rebounden,^[2][3][4] borrowed from Old French rebondir (“to leap back, resound”),^{[5][3][6][4][7][8]} formed from re- (“back”) and bondir (“to leap, bound”), the source of bound in the sense "to leap".^[3][6][8][9] The OED records the French verb as "to resound, ring out" from about 1150, and as "to cause to bounce back" from about 1393.^[5] The Anglo-Norman rebundir, from the third quarter of the 12th century, already meant both to spring back from an impact and to resound.^[10] Barnhart also allows bundir (“to resound”) as the second element.^[6] The noun comes partly from the verb and partly from Anglo-Norman rebound (end of the 13th century) and rebont (“act of rebounding”).^[5][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The verb's first use, before 1382 in the Wycliffite Bible, is of an action or its results coming back upon a person, especially the one who began it;^[5] Barnhart dates "to spring, leap" to about 1380 and "return to afflict" to before 1382.^[6] The physical sense, of a thing springing back after an impact, is recorded before 1398, in Trevisa's translation of Bartholomaeus Anglicus.^[5][2]

Semantic evolution

In Middle and early modern English the verb was often confused with redound, and it was used to translate Latin redundō;^[5] it shared that verb's senses "to abound" (until 1616) and "to contribute to one's honour or shame".^[5] Trevisa also used it of light being reflected and of sound echoing.^[5][2] Chaucer uses the verb once.^[11] The noun is recorded from 1440, in the Promptorium Parvulorum, for the springing back of an object after impact;^[5] Etymonline dates a sense "a rejoinder, a reply" to the mid-15th century and the bounce of a ball to the 1520s.^[3] Figurative uses of the noun follow from 1534,^[5] and the phrase at the rebound, common in the 16th and 17th centuries and perhaps first from tennis, now survives only of emotional reaction;^[12] the romantic sense, as in on the rebound, is recorded from 1853, in Elizabeth Gaskell's Ruth.^[5][3] A recovery in value after a decline is recorded from 1859,^[5] and in sport a ball bouncing back off a backboard or goalpost from 1894,^[5] with Etymonline dating the basketball sense to 1914 for the verb and 1920 for the noun.^[3] In Scotland rebound also meant to vomit or to feel sick.^[13]

Timeline

• a1382 – verb, of an action, to come back upon a person.^[5][6]
• a1398 – to spring back after an impact; of light, to be reflected; of sound, to echo.^[5][2]
• 1440 – noun, the springing back of an object after impact.^[5]
• 1457 – noun, noise, din (obsolete by 1500).^[5]
• 1534 – noun, figurative uses.^[5]
• 1853 – in the context of a romantic relationship.^[5][3]
• 1859 – a recovery in value after a decline.^[5]
• 1894 – in sport, a ball that bounces back after striking a surface.^[5]
• 1954 – in basketball, gaining possession of such a ball.^[5]

Meanings

Verb

1. To spring or bounce back after hitting something: The ball rebounded off the crossbar.^{[14][15][16][5]}
2. To recover after a setback, decline or disappointment: Prices rebounded in the spring.^[14][15]
3. Of an action, to have an unexpected bad effect on the person who did it; to backfire.^[16][9][5]
4. In basketball, to gain possession of the ball after a missed shot.^[14][15]
5. (rare) To echo or resound.^[14][5]

Noun

1. The act of springing back after an impact; a recoil.^{[14][15][16][5]}
2. A ball or puck that bounces back, or in basketball the act of catching it after a missed shot.^[14][5]
3. A recovery, as of prices or spirits, after a decline or disappointment.^[14][5]
4. on the rebound: while still reacting to the end of a love affair or other disappointment.^[16][5]

Word family

• rebounder

Related words

• bound
• redound
• rebind

Usage notes

Rebound is also the past tense and past participle of rebind.^[14][8]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 29 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
7. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
9. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
11. ^ Benson, Larry D., Glossarial Concordance to Middle English (Chaucer, Gower), Johns Hopkins University, github.com/jhu-digital-manuscripts/gcme
12. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
13. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
14. ^ a b c d e f g h The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
15. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
16. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins