Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A generally viscous, yellowish-white fluid formed in infected tissue, consisting of white blood cells, cellular debris, and necrotic tissue.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun An inflammatory exudation composed of modified white blood-cells (pus-corpuscles), with more or less of the debris and of the proliferating cells of the solid tissues of the part, and a liquid plasma.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun (Med.) The yellowish white opaque creamy matter produced by the process of suppuration. It consists of innumerable white nucleated cells floating in a clear liquid.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A whitish-yellow or yellow substance composed primarily of dead white blood cells and dead pyogenic bacteria; normally found in regions of bacterial infection.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun the tenth month of the Hindu calendar
  • noun a fluid product of inflammation

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Latin pūs; see pū̆- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin pus, meaning the same.

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Examples

  • He began arm-to-arm inoculations by taking pus from the scab of a person and transferring it to another.

    Trivia Corner 2010

  • Munkey: Would you rather bob for apples in pus, or hit a pinata full of diarrhea?

    Summer Holidays #3 lili 2007

  • Munkey: Would you rather bob for apples in pus, or hit a pinata full of diarrhea?

    Archive 2007-02-01 lili 2007

  • He often had to pry his eyes open in the morning with his fingers because they had been sealed shut with pus from the infections.

    GULF WAR INDEX 2002

  • The old flag of yellow and gold we called pus and blood.

    For Whom The Bell Tolls Hemingway, Ernest, 1899-1961 1940

  • The old flag of yellow and gold we called pus and blood.

    For Whom The Bell Tolls Hemingway, Ernest, 1899-1961 1940

  • What we call pus is made up of the bodies of live and dead phagocytes, disease taints and germs, blood serum, broken-down tissues and cells, in short, the debris of the battlefield.

    Nature Cure Henry Lindlahr 1893

  • It would have been more realistic if the beaver started vomiting blood and its fur was clotted in pus.

    FRIDAY FREE 4 ALL: PROTECT YOUR BEAVER 2008

  • Draining the pus was the only thing that helped, and I got a tetanus shot just because of the immobility.

    The Neighbour’s Cat Won — Climb to the Stars 2008

  • Draining the pus was the only thing that helped, and I got a tetanus shot just because of the immobility.

    The Neighbour’s Cat Won — Climb to the Stars 2008

Comments

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  • I have to say, here I like WeirdNet's suggestion better than the meaning I had in mind.

    December 1, 2007

  • I was glancing though the list at right:

    Disgusting words

    Least favorites

    Words I absolutely can NOT stand

    Unpleasant words for unpleasant things

    Words I don't like very much

    ...and then...

    Really Cool Three-Letter Words, by chained_bear

    :-P

    December 1, 2007

  • Sup backwards. Useful knowledge for those whose dietary intake is restricted to (body) fluids only.

    December 1, 2007

  • Hey, don't forget Creative Onomatopoeia! ;)

    In my defense, can you think of three *other* letters that elicit that kind of strong reaction from so many people?

    December 1, 2007

  • Hmm, I wonder what the record is for most lists by the same person a single word appears in...?

    December 1, 2007

  • Say! There's a good question! How do we find out?

    December 2, 2007

  • I don't think I have words on more than three lists, myself. (Could be wrong.) But I don't often see instances in which other users add a word to more than one of their lists.

    soo... was that u being snide?! ;)

    December 2, 2007

  • Yes, yes it were.

    December 5, 2007

  • John doesn't give you credit for a second listing if you put a word on more than one of your lists.

    December 5, 2007

  • That's all right. Wordie *shouldn't* give 'credit' for listing words on different lists. It's just for personal organization purposes, since there's no other reason for relisting words. I just... seem to have a lot of lists that words like 'pus' should, you know, be on... I guess... *starts to wonder*

    December 5, 2007

  • And there's pus in the weir; where once a white cumulus froth

    of cauliflowers boiled, there's a fetid and curdling slack

    of turpentine slick clotting up with each new pollutant

    in a piled scum of rainbow blown corrugated and poxed,

    while the same goes on in our own intestinal tracts.

    - Peter Reading, Removals, from For the Municipality's Elderly, 1974

    June 22, 2008

  • Pus, Dan! Ogre sales use laser gonads up.

    October 18, 2008