phlegmish

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English

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Etymology

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From phlegm +‎ -ish.

Pronunciation

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Adjective

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phlegmish (comparative more phlegmish, superlative most phlegmish)

  1. Laden with phlegm, as a cough.
    Synonym: phlegmy
    • 1976, Edward Dahlberg, Bottom Dogs, From Flushing to Calvary, Those who Perish, and Hitherto Unpublished and Uncollected Works[1]:
      His front legs doubled under him, and he lay down, his nose in his own water, biting the phlegmish froth and dust around his mouth and gaping like a stuffed animal in a taxidermist's window.
    • 2001, Stereophile[2], volume 24, numbers 7-12, page 123:
      This was plainly apparent with solo piano recordings; it seemed as if a layer of phlegmish tubercular congestion had been removed from between the strings.
  2. Characterized by the humor phlegm; apathetic or composed.
    Synonym: phlegmatic
    • 1966, The American Writer and the Great Depression[3], page 292:
      His concern soothed her and she breathed heavily, densely, with a thick phlegmish pity for herself.
    • 2002, Briton Hadden, Henry Robinson Luce, Time[4], volume 160, page 72:
      I was raised among them, though I fled their phlegmish company decades ago to join the chattering classes.
    • 2006, The Spectator[5], volume 301, page 33:
      [] 'the Lady Pusillanimous' is a mild echo of his invective against his first wife Pamela Lane whom he was just splitting up from: 'That bitch, that pusillanimous, sycophantic, snivelling, phlegmish yokel, that cow — fortunately I've ceased to care what happens to her' — which didn't stop him sleeping with her now and then after he had remarried, nor from supporting her financially
    • 2012, Nabil Shehaby, The Propositional Logic of Avicenna: A Translation from al-Shifāʾ: al-Qiyās[6], translation of original by Avicenna:
      The example (for the third kind) when the (principal proposition) is separative is: 'Either this fever is either yellowish or scarlet, or this fever is either phlegmish or melancholic'.