Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. rehabilitation, from drug or alcohol abuse; thus extended to emotional or non-drug-related physical problems.

1940		implied in sense 2.
1950		Sthn. Illinoisan (Carbondale, IL) 14 Jan. 2/8: Tray favors [were] sent by Rehab chairman Mrs Ed Beck.
1975		Tuscaloosa (AL) News 28 Sept. D1: The vocational rehabilitation programme—or ‘rehab’ as it is often called—is jointly funded.
1999		Guardian G2 16 July 9: She has been through rehab and has emerged from the dark side.
2003		T. Dorsey Stingray Shuffle 44: One bumper sticker: rehab is for quitters.
2005		L. Redhead Rubdown [ebook] My wife Susan and I would like to stage an intervention, get her into rehab.
2005		A. Lovejoy Acid Alex 232: I can’t remember the other ou’s sentence but mine was heavy suspended sentences on all charges and four months’ rehab.
2009		L. McIlvanney All the Colours 57: I’d been in rehab, briefly.
2010		K. Richards Life 434: Ronnie’s been in and out of rehab many times.
2012		P. Corris ‘Prodigal Son’ in Crime Factory: Hard Labour [ebook] [of a heart operation] He visited George every day until the operation [...] and supported him at home through the rehab.
2016		N. Cummins Adventures of the Honey Badger [ebook] Finally, after seven months of rehab [from a broken ankle], I decided to give it another crack.
2017		D. Winslow The Force [ebook] A lot of guys come off undercover straight into rehab and their careers are fucked.
2021		T. Swerdlow Straight Dope [ebook] [S]he back in rehab? — She’s dead.
2021		L. McInerney Rules of Revelation 44: A kindly judge ordered Tony into rehab.
2024		J. Meades Empty Wigs (t/s) 728: Many of her friends were in rehab.

2. attrib. use of sense 1.

1940		Washington Missourian (MO) 28 Mar. 6/5: American Legion auxiliary rehabilitation commissions [...] are generally referred to as ‘Rehab Commissions’.
1960		Lancing State Jrnl (MI) 8 Jan. 7/4: The Rehabilitation Service [...] is [...] sending speakers [...] to tell the story fo the ‘Rehab’ center’s work.
1980		Jackson & Christian Death Row 71: While I was waiting to go on trial, they put me in the county Rehab Center.
1989		M. Amis London Fields 168: The peculiar difficulty with girls experienced by God, Shakespeare and Keith was this difficulty: they raped them. Or used to. They had all been on the same rehab courses.
1994		N. McCall Makes Me Wanna Holler (1995) 368: He had checked into a drug rehab center.
1999		Guardian G2 30 June 17: Dispatched to the rehab unit of Malibu County Jail last week after admitting he was [...] still on drugs.
2007		J. Stahl ‘Pure’ in Love Without 161: California subsidized him for the price of rehab beds.
2010		K. Richards Life 434: He’s found a smooth little rehab place.
2015		L. McInerney Glorious Heresies 4: [D]rying-out sessions in miserable rehab centres.

3. the ward or hospital in which rehabilitation takes place.

1984		Partridge DSUE (8th edn) 970/1: since ca. 1945.
1999		T. Parker South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut [film script] Uh, kids, I wanna welcome you to rehabilitation, m’kay? Your mothers insisted that you be taken from your normal schoolwork, and placed into rehab to learn not to swear.
2008		D.R. Pollock ‘The Fights’ in Knockemstiff 195: I woke up in a charity rehab wrapped in an army blanket.

4. the state of being rehabilitated.

1999

Indep. on Sun. Real Life 20 June 5: Sunglasses [...] make me look like a C-list celebrity fresh out of rehab.