Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A watery or thin mucous discharge from the eyes or nose.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A mucous discharge, as from the nostrils or lungs during a cold; hence, catarrhal discharge from the air-passages, nose, or eyes.
- n. A thin serous fluid, secreted by the mucous glands, etc., as in catarrh; humid matter which collects in the eyes, nose, or mouth, as tears, saliva, and the like.
- n. Spleen; choler.
- n. A genus of apetalous plants of the order Polygonaceæ and tribe Rumiceæ.
- n. It is characterized by its (usually) nine stamens, and its six-parted perianth which remains unchanged in fruit, around the three-winged and exserted fruit. There are about 20 species, natives of Siberia, the Himalayas, and western Asia. They are stout herbs from thick and somewhat woody rootstocks, with large toothed or lobed and wavy leaves, and loose dry stipular sheaths. The small white or greenish pedicelled bractless flowers are in racemed fascicles, the racemes panicled. The floral leaves are in some species small, in others large and colored, as in R. nobile, a remarkable species of the Sikhim Himalayas. For this and other species, see rhubarb, the common name of the genus. See also cuts under plumule and rhubarb.
Wiktionary
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. A genus of plants. See rhubarb.
- n. A serous or mucous discharge, especially one from the eves or nose.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a watery discharge from the mucous membranes (especially from the eyes or nose)
- n. rhubarb.
Etymologies
- Middle English reume, from Old French, from Late Latin rheuma, from Greek, a flowing, rheum; see sreu- in Indo-European roots.
Examples
“The diseases of the body explain themselves by their increase; we find that to be the gout which we called a rheum or a strain; the diseases of the soul, the greater they are, keep, themselves the most obscure; the most sick are the least sensible; therefore it is that with an unrelenting hand they most often, in full day, be taken to task, opened, and torn from the hollow of the heart.”
“They have the power (MONEY) and will attack everyone that disagrees with them. sade rheum”
“DROMIO: I looked for the chalky cliffs, but I could find no whiteness in them; but I guess it stood in her chin, by the salt rheum that ran between France and it.”
“The next day, Drew sits at a downtown bar with rheum in his eyes.”
Broken Social Scene: precariously back together again - Arts & Culture - Macleans.ca
“Here are a few of the alternatives it did give me: “rhea,” “Rh,” “hep,” “rheum,” and “rh.” yes, all of those seem like much preferably words to a simple “the.””
Fast or Slow, Dumb or Smart | Motivational Humor from the Motivational Smart Ass!
“Iffin taht nawt gud, mai IRL werk pleh pleh lets me manij sum sports senters – tehy has rilly hai seelings, nd lots of rheum. lolcatburglar says:”
Cant play wif u anymoar… - Lolcats 'n' Funny Pictures of Cats - I Can Has Cheezburger?
“This is the prince of leeches; fever, plague, Cold rheum, and hot podagra, do but look on him, And quit their grasp upon the tortured sinews.”
“So cheek by jowl we drool a common rheum that stultifies not one but all.”
“One gets him a young wife, another a courtesan, and when he can scarce lift his leg over a sill, and hath one foot already in Charon's boat, when he hath the trembling in his joints, the gout in his feet, a perpetual rheum in his head, a continuate cough,”
“They are fatter than others that are melancholy, of a muddy complexion, apter to spit, [2560] sleep, more troubled with rheum than the rest, and have their eyes still fixed on the ground.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘rheum’.
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•Unexpected Pronunciation, Now! with Public Acc...
Inspired to publicity by the conversation at segway. Thanks, pals!
boatswain, clapboard, waistcoat, victuals, forecastle, solder, colonel, ensign, worcestershire sauce, creatinine, coelacanth, banal and 77 more...
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I'b sorry. I hab a cold.
Barious items you bight need when you hab a cold.
Kleenex, cough drops, cough syrup, hand sanitizer, water, orange juice, hankie, handkerchief, Purple Drank, tissues, decongestant, expectorant and 16 more...
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Creepy Accretions
Substances that accumulate on the human body, whether we want them to or not.
smegma, toejam, earwax, dingleberries, fromunda cheese, cerumen, sleep, rheum, mucopurulent disc..., navel wool, dandruff, sweat and 9 more...
bilby "AUFIDIUS: There was it;--
For which my sinews shall be stretch'd upon him.
At a few drops of women's rheum, which are
As cheap as lies, he sold the blood and labour
Of our great action..."
- William Shakespeare, 'The Tragedy of Coriolanus'. Aug 29, 2009