rebound

From Old French rebondir.

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ɹiˈbaʊnd/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): (noun) /ˈɹi.baʊnd/, (verb) /ɹiˈbaʊnd/
• Rhymes: -aʊnd, -iːbaʊnd

rebound (plural rebounds)

1. The recoil of an object bouncing off another.
2. A return to health or well-being; a recovery.

   I am on the rebound.

3. An effort to recover from a setback.
4. (colloquial) The period of getting over a recently ended romantic relationship.
   • 2014 April 4, Dan Shive, El Goonish Shive (webcomic), Comic for Friday, Apr 4, 2014:

     "I get it. Girl caught him on the rebound when he was vulnerable."

5. (colloquial) A romantic partner with whom one begins a relationship (or the relationship one begins) for the sake of getting over a previous, recently ended romantic relationship.
   • 2008, Craig Ainsworth, Proceed with Caution: Life's a Journey, →ISBN, page 96:

     What if she was a rebound after all and he didn't feel the same way for her anymore?

   • 2009, Kenny Attaway, Nuthouse Love, →ISBN, page 154:

     Nika was dealt a terrible blow in finding she was a rebound and that Steve was still madly in love with his ex and that their love affair was sparked out of retaliation[.]

   • 2010, Joan Moran, Sixty, Sex, & Tango: Confessions of a Beatnik Boomer, →ISBN, page 43:

     Sure, he was a rebound, but he was a respectable rebound. Then, the rebound broke up with me.

6. (sports) The strike of the ball after it has bounced off a defending player or the crossbar or goalpost.
   • 2010 December 28, Kevin Darling, “West Brom 1 - 3 Blackburn”, in BBC‎:

     The inevitable Baggies onslaught followed as substitute Simon Cox saw his strike excellently parried by keeper Bunn, with Cox heading the rebound down into the ground and agonisingly over the bar.

7. (basketball) An instance of catching the ball after it has hit the rim or backboard without a basket being scored, generally credited to a particular player.

rebound (third-person singular simple present rebounds, present participle rebounding, simple past and past participle rebounded)

1. To bound or spring back from a force.
   • 1704, I[saac] N[ewton], “(please specify |book=1 to 3)”, in Opticks: Or, A Treatise of the Reflexions, Refractions, Inflexions and Colours of Light. […], London: […] Sam[uel] Smith, and Benj[amin] Walford, printers to the Royal Society, […], →OCLC:

     Bodies which are absolutely hard, or so soft as to be void of elasticity, will not rebound from one another.

   • 2012 August 23, Alasdair Lamont, “Hearts 0-1 Liverpool”, in BBC Sport‎:

     Martin Kelly fired in a dangerous cross and the Hearts defender looked on in horror as the ball rebounded off him and into the net.

2. To give back an echo.
   • a. 1714, Alexander Pope, Autumn:

     each cave and echoing rock rebounds

3. (figuratively) To jump up or get back up again.
4. (transitive) To send back; to reverberate.
   • 1697, Virgil, “Pastoral 6”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC:

     Silenus sung; the vales his voice rebound, / And carry to the skies the sacred sound.

5. (basketball) To catch the ball after it has hit the rim or backboard without scoring a basket for the other team.
   • 2013, Robert W. Cohen, Pro Basketball's All-time All-stars: Across the Eras, page xxi:

     By the mid-19605, the top small forwards in the game were Rick Barry and Iohn Havlicek, both of whom excelled as defenders and passers, rebounded well, and provided their respective teams with exceptional scoring.

   • 2021, Ronald Lee Fleming, Rise of the Ravens, page 2021:

     I knew for sure if Griffin blocked shots and rebounded the basketball my Ravens would become champions.

• rebounding lock

• bound (verb)

see rebind

• IPA^(key): /ˈɹiː.baʊnd/
• Rhymes: -iːbaʊnd

rebound

1. simple past and past participle of rebind

• bounder, unbored, unrobed