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Definitions

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

  1. n. Thick, sticky, stringy mucus secreted by the mucous membrane of the respiratory tract, as during a cold or other respiratory infection.
  2. n. One of the four humors of ancient and medieval physiology, thought to cause sluggishness, apathy, and evenness of temper.
  3. n. Sluggishness of temperament.
  4. n. Calm self-possession; equanimity.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

  1. n. One of the four humors of which the ancients supposed the blood to be composed.
  2. n. In old chemistry, the aqueous, insipid, and in odorous products obtained by subjecting moist vegetable matter to the action of heat.
  3. n. A thick viscid matter secreted in the digestive and respiratory passages, and discharged by coughing or vomiting; bronchial mucus.
  4. n. Dullness; sluggishness; indifference; coolness; apathy; calm self-restraint.
  5. n. Synonyms Insensibility, Impassibility, etc. See apathy.

Wiktionary

  1. n. One of the four humors making up the body in ancient and mediaeval medicine; said to be cold and moist, and often identified with mucus. [from 13th c.]
  2. n. Viscid mucus produced by the body, later especially mucus expelled from the bronchial passages by coughing. [from 14th c.]
  3. n. A watery distillation, especially one obtained from plant matter; an aqueous solution. [from 16th c.]
  4. n. Calmness of temperament, composure; also seen negatively, sluggishness, indifference. [from 16th c.]

GNU Webster's 1913

  1. n. One of the four humors of which the ancients supposed the blood to be composed. See humor.
  2. n. Viscid mucus secreted in abnormal quantity in the respiratory and digestive passages.
  3. n. A watery distilled liquor, in distinction from a spirituous liquor.
  4. n. Sluggishness of temperament; dullness; want of interest; indifference; coldness.

WordNet 3.0

  1. n. apathy demonstrated by an absence of emotional reactions
  2. n. expectorated matter; saliva mixed with discharges from the respiratory passages; in ancient and medieval physiology it was believed to cause sluggishness
  3. n. inactivity; showing an unusual lack of energy

Etymologies

  1. Middle English fleume, mucous discharge, the humor phlegm, from Old French, from Medieval Latin phlegma, flegma, from Late Latin phlegma, the humor phlegm, from Greek, heat, the humor phlegm, from phlegein, to burn.

Examples

  • “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

  • “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

  • “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

  • “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

  • “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.”

    English, and how she is spoken

  • “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

  • “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

  • “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

  • “The fact that he went on eating ham, and said to Clara, "Half a cup!" was proof positive of that mysterious quality called phlegm which had long enabled his country to enjoy the peace of a weedy duck-pond.”

    The Freelands

  • “Clara, "Half a cup!" was proof positive of that mysterious quality called phlegm which had long enabled his country to enjoy the peace of a weedy duck-pond.”

    Complete Project Gutenberg John Galsworthy Works

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Comments

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  • rubah I think the meaning throws a lot of people off this word. The massive consonant clusters really do something for me, though. Dec 7, 2009

  • karenella worst word ever. Oct 16, 2008

  • yarb Citation on besmirch. Jun 23, 2008

‘phlegm’ has been looked up 2451 times, loved by 1 person, added to 48 lists, commented on 3 times, and has a Scrabble score of 14.