Etymology

Noun

1. Someone who returns from a long absence.
   • 1886, Mrs Lynn Linton, Paston Carew viii, as cited in the Oxford English Dictionary, volume 8 part 1, published 1914, page 595:

     They would not visit this undesirable revenant with his insolent wealth and discreditable origin.

   • 1895 August 31, Daily News 4/7, as cited in the Oxford English Dictionary, volume 8 part 1, published 1914, page 595:

     The undergraduates, our fogey revenant observes, look much as they did.., in outward aspect.

2. A person or thing reborn.
   • 2007, John Burrow, A History of Histories, Penguin 2009, page 184:

     Sometimes semi-identifications could be made on the basis of names. Henry VII's son Arthur was hailed as a revenant in this way.

3. A supernatural being that returns from the dead; a zombie or ghost.
4. }

Noun

1. A supernatural being that returns from the dead; a zombie or ghost.