health

plural healths · alternative obsolete helth · alternative obsolete helthe · alternative obsolete healthe

1. uncountableusuallyThe state of being free from physical or psychological disease, illness, or malfunction; wellness.First known use 11th c.

   My grampa still enjoys very good health.

   2 more examples

   Her mental health is really affected by stressful environments.

   Then he commenced to talk, really talk. and inside of two flaps of a herring's fin he had me mesmerized, like Eben Holt's boy at the town hall show. He talked about the ills of humanity, and the glories of health and Nature and service and land knows what all.

   1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter IV, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y.; London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC

2. uncountableusuallyA state of well-being or balance, often physical but sometimes also mental and social; the overall level of function of an organism from the cellular (micro) level to the social (macro) level.

   The directors are concerned about the financial health of the project.

3. uncountableusuallyPhysical condition.
4. obsoleteuncountableusuallyCure, remedy.First known use 16th c. (Middle English: 11th–15th c.)
5. countableusuallyA toast to prosperity.First known use 17th c.

   Strikingly, however, Waller does not deny but rather revels in the claim that healths lead to excessive drinking

   2002, Joshua Scodel, Excess and the Mean in Early Modern English Literature, page 213

6. uncountableusuallyvideo gamesThe amount of damage an in-game entity can withstand before it is killed, destroyed or defeated.

   The enemies on this level have a lot of health.

   2 more examples

   Lose a little health and there's a few seconds in which you'll be able to win it back by ragging on an enemy.

   2018 March 6, Martin Robinson, “Dispelling the myths of Bloodborne”, in Eurogamer, archived from the original on 10 Mar 2026

   Enemies can knock your health down to zero if you're not careful and item upgrades are slow to come by.

   2025 February 28, Tyler Colp, “Reinstall: Path of Exile”, in PC Gamer (US), number 392, page 91

plural healths

1. obsoleteA warrior; hero; man.

   They, under false pretence of amity and cheer, the British peers invite, the German healths to view.

   1612, Michael Drayton, “(please specify the chapter)”, in [John Selden], editor, Poly-Olbion. Or A Chorographicall Description of Tracts, Riuers, Mountaines, Forests, and Other Parts of this Renowned Isle of Great Britaine, […], London: […] [Humphrey Lownes] for M[athew] Lownes; I[ohn] Browne; I[ohn] Helme; I[ohn] Busbie, →OCLC