Meanings
nounpoitrinaire (plural poitrinaires)
plural poitrinaires
- literarySomeone suffering from tuberculosis, or a similar lung disease.
His dry cough and eternal light fever spoke of tuberculosis; indeed his whole physiognomy was that of the old traditional poitrinaire, and he had once been placed in a sanatorium where they had collapsed a lung to let it mend.
1978, Lawrence Durrell, Livia (Avignon Quintet), Faber & Faber, published 1992, page 389
Origin
- Frenchpoitrinaire
- Englishpoitrinaire
From French poitrinaire, from poitrine (“chest”).
More words from French
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
APA
poitrinaire. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/poitrinaire
MLA
“poitrinaire.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/poitrinaire. Accessed November 4, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “poitrinaire,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/poitrinaire.
Source: poitrinaire on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.