phlegm
Definition from Wiktionary, a free dictionary
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[edit] English
Part or all of this page has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
[edit] Etymology
From French phlegme, flegme, Latin phlegma, from Ancient Greek φλέγμα (phlegma), “‘a flame; inflammation; phlegm, a morbid, clammy humor in the body; to burn’”). Compare with phlox, flagrant, flame, bleak (adjective), and fulminate.
[edit] Pronunciation
[edit] Noun
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Singular |
Plural |
phlegm (usually uncountable; plural phlegms)
- Viscid mucus secreted in the respiratory and digestive passages, excluding that from the nasal passages, and particularly that which is expelled by coughing (sputum).
- A watery distilled liquor, in distinction from a spirituous liquor.
- One of the four humors of which the ancients supposed the blood to be composed.
- Sluggishness of temperament; dullness; want of interest; indifference; coldness.
[edit] Related terms
[edit] Translations
mucus secreted in the respiratory and digestive passages
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