Jody
in this passage, does "invalid"here mean"crippled"or "sick?" The pious invoked the name of God or went to their knees or meditated. Told by Ann Gargan and Rita Dallas, Rose Kennedy faced the nurse bravely and said, "We'll be all right." But she really didn't want to be with them. She didn't want to see anyone just then. Her room was too small for the pacing she must now do, and rubbing her elbows she said to Ann, I’ll be outside." Leaving them weeping, the President's mother, the most religious of the Kennedys, went down to the lawn by the sea, to stride back and forth throughout the remainder of the afternoon, a solitary, graceful figure walking over mile after mile of autumnal grass while her invalid husband slept.
Jun 13, 2013 6:28 AM
Answers · 3
Joe Kennedy, the president's father, had been severely disabled by a stroke in 1961, so it likely means crippled.
June 13, 2013
Yeah I agree with Bill, it can mean either. Probably he was "sick" in bed though
June 13, 2013
It can mean either. If you are so sick that you cannot move around on your own, or function normally, than you are an invalid. I suspect that the word originated in the military, and meant 'unfit for military service'.
June 13, 2013
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