Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun Thick, sticky, stringy mucus secreted by the mucous membrane of the respiratory tract, as during a cold or other respiratory infection.
- noun One of the four humors of ancient and medieval physiology, thought to cause sluggishness, apathy, and evenness of temper.
- noun Sluggishness of temperament.
- noun Calm self-possession; equanimity.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun One of the four humors of which the ancients supposed the blood to be composed.
- noun In old chemistry, the aqueous, insipid, and in odorous products obtained by subjecting moist vegetable matter to the action of heat.
- noun A thick viscid matter secreted in the digestive and respiratory passages, and discharged by coughing or vomiting; bronchial mucus.
- noun Dullness; sluggishness; indifference; coolness; apathy; calm self-restraint.
- noun Synonyms Insensibility, Impassibility, etc. See
apathy .
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun One of the four humors of which the ancients supposed the blood to be composed. See
humor . - noun (Physiol.) Viscid mucus secreted in abnormal quantity in the respiratory and digestive passages.
- noun (Old Chem.) A watery distilled liquor, in distinction from a spirituous liquor.
- noun Sluggishness of temperament; dullness; want of interest; indifference; coldness.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun apathy demonstrated by an absence of emotional reactions
- noun expectorated matter; saliva mixed with discharges from the respiratory passages; in ancient and medieval physiology it was believed to cause sluggishness
- noun inactivity; showing an unusual lack of energy
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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He is coughing up phlegm from a sickness he is certain arrived with all the recent stress of divorce and debt, and now he doesn't walk so much as wobble his way into one of the closets upstairs, where he happens upon some painful, wonderful memories he keeps sealed in a plastic cup.
Sunday Reading 2009
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Surely our colloquial use of the word phlegm must be derived from the character of the
The Diary and Letters of Madame D'Arblay — Volume 3 Fanny Burney 1796
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I think we should pronounce it with the “X” sound … y’know like clearing phlegm from the back of our throat and gettin’ ready to throw a big loogy.
Suspenseful With A Pencil Ever Since Prince Turned Himself Into A Symbol | ATTACKERMAN 2009
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Note 189: This body by which we are all sustained and live is composed ... of four humors, for it has in it blood, red bile, which we call choler, black bile, which we call melancholy, and phlegm, which is called pituita in Latin ....
Architecture and Memory: The Renaissance Studioli of Federico da Montefeltro 2008
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I'm not even talking about English letters which are silent: lamb, debt, calm, listen, know, yacht, or my favorite, the unsung letter "g" in phlegm.
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I'm not even talking about English letters which are silent: lamb, debt, calm, listen, know, yacht, or my favorite, the unsung letter "g" in phlegm.
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White phlegm, which is dangerous if kept in, by reason of the air bubbles, is not equally dangerous if able to escape through the pores, although it variegates the body, generating diverse kinds of leprosies.
Timaeus 2006
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Medical tip of the day: if your phlegm is the color of the background on that page, you may have a lung or sinus infection.
Archive 2005-12-01 Douglas Hoffman 2005
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Medical tip of the day: if your phlegm is the color of the background on that page, you may have a lung or sinus infection.
Introducing . . . Douglas Hoffman 2005
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I told him that the phlegm was a vegetable called nostoc, and he thereupon concluded that too much learning had turned my brain, and, fully persuaded of his own complete knowledge of nature, was pleased to be very facetious at my expense.
The World's Greatest Books — Volume 19 — Travel and Adventure Various 1909
yarb commented on the word phlegm
Citation on besmirch.
June 23, 2008
karenella commented on the word phlegm
worst word ever.
October 16, 2008
rubah commented on the word phlegm
I think the meaning throws a lot of people off this word. The massive consonant clusters really do something for me, though.
December 7, 2009