Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A clear, watery, sometimes faintly yellowish fluid derived from body tissues that contains white blood cells and circulates throughout the lymphatic system, returning to the venous bloodstream through the thoracic duct. Lymph acts to remove bacteria and certain proteins from the tissues, transport fat from the small intestine, and supply mature lymphocytes to the blood.
- n. Archaic A spring or stream of pure, clear water.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. Pure, clear water, or any fluid similarly transparent.
- n. In physiology, a fluid in animal bodies, contained in certain vessels called lymphatics. Lymph is, like the blood, an alkaline fluid, consisting of a plasma and corpuscles, and coagulates by the formation of fibrin. The lymph differs from the blood in its corpuscles being of the colorless kind, and in the very small proportion of its solid constituents, which amount to only about 5 per cent. of its weight. Lymph may, in fact, be regarded as blood minus its red corpuscles and diluted with water so as to be somewhat less dense than the serum of blood, which contains about 8 per cent. of solid matter.
- n. Any antitoxic serum, as vaccine virus.
Wiktionary
- n. physiology, immunology A colourless, watery, bodily fluid carried by the lymphatic system, that consists mainly of white blood cells.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. A spring of water; hence, water, or a pure, transparent liquid like water.
- n. (Anat.) An alkaline colorless fluid, contained in the lymphatic vessels, coagulable like blood, but free from red blood corpuscles. It is absorbed from the various tissues and organs of the body, and is finally discharged by the thoracic and right lymphatic ducts into the great veins near the heart.
- n. (Med.) A fibrinous material exuded from the blood vessels in inflammation. In the process of healing it is either absorbed, or is converted into connective tissue binding the inflamed surfaces together.
- n. (Physiol. Chem.) A fluid containing certain products resulting from the growth of specific microorganisms upon some culture medium, and supposed to be possessed of curative properties.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a thin coagulable fluid (similar to plasma but) containing white blood cells (lymphocytes) and chyle; is conveyed to the blood stream by lymphatic vessels
Etymologies
- From Latin lympha ("water, water nymph"), from Ancient Greek νύμφη ("nymph") (English nymph), of unknown origin. (Wiktionary)
- Latin lympha, water nymph, from Greek numphē, young bride, water nymph. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“As I have said, this lymph is a wonderful discovery.”
“They accumulate in lymph nodes, spleen and lymph tissues of the small intestines or the thymus gland (located in the middle of the upper chest).”
“Swelling occurs in lymph nodes under the arms, in the groin, chest and in the neck.”
“* — Between the cells and the capillaries is a liquid, known as the lymph, which is similar in composition and physical properties to the blood.”
“We're trying to break down this black box that we know as the lymph node, and identify the different cells that are there, how they interact with each other and what the general rules are," Carroll says.”
“If the garden enters in the blood we are voice of the birds that call the lymph into flower from the tops of willow trees.”
“Sometimes a few lymph nodes are taken to check for more cancer, a procedure known as lymph node sampling, and other times all the lymph nodes under the armpit are removed.”
“At intervals along these tubes are small structures termed the lymph nodes, which essentially are filters, and strain out from the fluid substances which might work great injury if they passed into the blood.”
“The lymph, which is not shown, fills all the space outside the blood-vessels, thus bathing both muscles and blood-vessels.”
“_The lymphoid tissue_: The lymph is another of the life-giving liquids of the body, which through a vascular system of its own, draws certain nutritive substances from the food and carries them to certain organs which it feeds, especially the nerves.”
Valere Aude Dare to Be Healthy, Or, The Light of Physical Regeneration
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘lymph’.
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Interesting words
A list of words that are odd or words that I have looked up.
concupiscence, brize, scree, scoria, forestaff, spanaemia, valetudinarianism, distasture, pyrethrum, laudanum, gentian, bicameral and 11184 more...
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FUN - bogus definitions
Find the words (left) for the definitions below
- the person upon whom one coughs at
- appalled over how much weight you have gained
- to give up all hope of ever having a flat st...oyster, negligent, Pokemon, flatulance, lymph, rectitude, flabbergasted, willy-nilly, abdicate, coffee, gargoyle, esplanade and 4 more...
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hedges's Words
wii, crepuscule, adumbrate, concatenation, sufi, qawwali, furry, riot, mellifluous, conspiracy, etymology, tea cozy and 369 more...
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Favorite Five-Letter Words
Just what it sounds like. My favorites. Five letters.
ennui, barfy, samba, schwa, beefy, chunk, queef, spasm, skulk, bowel, elbow, fruit and 235 more...
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What Is the Sound of One Hand Typing?
Words you can type with one hand--if you learned how to type formally. Hunt-and-peck method doesn't count. ;-) I'm keeping it to five or more letters to avoid an excessively lengthy list.
<...racecar, start, create, desert, dessert, secret, secrete, sweet, tresses, poppy, puppy, homonym and 141 more...
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Nullologue
nullologue, vaudeville, debauchery, debauched, libertine, nothing, dhadak, tz pf, nothingology, goodbyeology, sharmuta, manifesto and 866 more...
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And Sometimes Y
A,E,I,O,U...
rhythm, myrrh, syzygy, pyx, gypsy, sly, cyst, spry, alphyn, sylph, nymph, wry and 26 more...
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words i hate
salve, puncture, ointment, suckling, milky, sinew, lymph, moist, membrane, fungus, secretion, crotch
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Wtht Vwls.
nth, psst, shh, brr, hmm, umm, cwm, crwth, crypt, gypsy, hymn, lynx and 26 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for lymph.
oroboros To walk with a lisp. --Mensa word list winner 2006 Mar 2, 2007