The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
n. A sickly or weak person, especially one who is constantly and morbidly concerned with his or her health: "She affected to be spunky about her ailments and afflictions, but she was in fact an utterly self-centered valetudinarian” ( Louis Auchincloss).
adj. Chronically ailing; sickly.
adj. Constantly and morbidly concerned with one's health.
n. A person in poor health or sickly, especially one who is constantly obsessed with their state of health
the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English
adj. Of infirm health; seeking to recover health; sickly; weakly; infirm.
n. A person of a weak or sickly constitution; one who is seeking to recover health.
The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
Being in a poor state of health; weak; infirm; invalid; delicate; seeking to recover health.
n. A person of a weak, infirm, or sickly constitution; one who is seeking to recover health; an invalid.
n. Also valetudinary.
WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
adj. of or relating to or characteristic of a person who is a valetudinarian
n. weak or sickly person especially one morbidly concerned with his or her health
Word Usage
"At this moment, the stranger who had put the coachman and groom right about the word valetudinarian, rose from the seat he had occupied in the corner of the room, and uttering a deep, hollow groan, walked towards the door."