able-bodied

adj — 3 senses

able-bodied

adj

US /ˈeɪ.bl̩ˌbɑ.did/

Etymology From able body + -ed.

1

Having a sound, strong body; physically competent; robust; fit for service.

  • A servant determinately idle, leaving his work, or an able-bodied vagrant, roaming the country without means of honest self-support and without seeking employment, was to be brought before the two nearest magistrates.1893, James Anthony Froude, History of England from the Fall of Wolsey to the Defeat of the Spanish Armada:
  • It’s little wonder that Spanish invaders, led by Hernán Cortés, so easily conquered the Aztecs. By the time they arrived, most of the able-bodied men were dead either from having their hearts yanked out or falling off the pyramid.2005, Annabelle du Fouet, “The murky world from whence it all came” (chapter 2), in Weather Balloons Make Rotten Sex Toys, Ellora's Cave, →ISBN, page 48:
2

Not disabled; having no physical disability.

  • Unfair discrimination between the able-bodied and the disabled is illegal in many places.
3

Nautical, Transport Capable of performing all requisite duties as a seaman, specifically in the Royal Navy, a rating between leading and ordinary.

Derived terms
able-bodiedism, able-bodiedness, able-bodied seaman, non-able-bodied, temporarily able-bodied
Related terms
ableism

Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — list of authors.