Etymologically
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rebound

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Pronunciation

  • UK: /ɹiˈbaʊnd/[1]
  • US: /ˈɹi.baʊnd/, /ɹiˈbaʊnd/[1]

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

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