Definitions

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

  • noun The clear yellowish fluid obtained upon separating whole blood into its solid and liquid components after it has been allowed to clot.
  • noun Blood serum from the tissues of immunized animals, containing antibodies and used to transfer immunity to another individual.
  • noun Watery fluid from animal tissue, such as that found in edema.
  • noun Whey.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The blood-serum of an animal which has been rendered immune against some disease by injections of increasing quantities of the micro-organism of such disease; antitoxin. See serum diagnosis and immunity, 5.
  • noun An antidiphtheritic serum.
  • noun The thin part of milk separated from the curd and oil; whey. Also called serum lactis.
  • noun The clear pale-yellow liquid which separates from the clot in coagulation of the blood; blood-serum.
  • noun Any serous liquid, as chyle or lymph.

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

  • noun The watery portion of certain animal fluids, as blood, milk, etc.
  • noun A thin watery fluid, containing more or less albumin, secreted by the serous membranes of the body, such as the pericardium and peritoneum.
  • noun the pale yellowish fluid which exudes from the clot formed in the coagulation of the blood; the liquid portion of the blood, after removal of the blood corpuscles and the fibrin.
  • noun the thin watery fluid which separates from the muscles after coagulation of the muscle plasma; the watery portion of the plasma. See Muscle plasma, under Plasma.
  • noun (Physiol. Chem.) an albuminous body, closely related to egg albumin, present in nearly all serous fluids; esp., the albumin of blood serum.
  • noun (Physiol. Chem.) paraglobulin.
  • noun (Physiol. Chem.) the whey, or fluid portion of milk, remaining after removal of the casein and fat.

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

  • noun The clear yellowish fluid obtained upon separating whole blood into its solid and liquid components after it has been allowed to clot. Also called blood serum.
  • noun Blood serum from the tissues of immunized animals, containing antibodies and used to transfer immunity to another individual, called antiserum.
  • noun A watery fluid from animal tissue, especially one that moistens the surface of serous membranes or that is exuded by such membranes when they become inflamed, such as in edema or a blister.
  • noun The watery portion of certain animal fluids, as blood, milk, etc; whey.
  • noun skincare An intensive moisturising product to be applied after cleansing but before a general moisturiser.

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

  • noun an amber, watery fluid, rich in proteins, that separates out when blood coagulates

Etymologies

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

[Latin, whey, serum.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin serum ("whey"). Cognates: French sérum, Spanish suero, Italian siere, siero.

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