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Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
phlegm
noun
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ After gargling on her phlegm for a while, she began to choke.
▪ An irritating cough producing very little phlegm and becoming worse when taking a deep breath.
▪ He looked in the mirror and could see a gout of her smoker's phlegm on his cheek.
▪ Kingsley rolled phlegm in his throat but remained with his head bowed.
▪ My voice is like sandpaper, I cough up gobs of phlegm, my liver feels like a sandbag.
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Phlegm

Phlegm \Phlegm\, n. [F. phlegme, flegme, L. phlegma, fr. Gr. ? a flame, inflammation, phlegm, a morbid, clammy humor in the body, fr. ? to burn. Cf. Phlox, Flagrant, Flame, Bleak, a., and Fluminate.]

  1. One of the four humors of which the ancients supposed the blood to be composed. See Humor.
    --Arbuthnot.

  2. (Physiol.) Viscid mucus secreted in abnormal quantity in the respiratory and digestive passages.

  3. (Old Chem.) A watery distilled liquor, in distinction from a spirituous liquor.
    --Crabb.

  4. Sluggishness of temperament; dullness; want of interest; indifference; coldness.

    They judge with fury, but they write with phlegm.
    --Pope.

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
phlegm

late 14c., fleem "viscid mucus" (the stuff itself and also regarded as a bodily humor), from Old French fleume (13c., Modern French flegme), from Late Latin phlegma, one of the four humors of the body, from Greek phlegma "humor caused by heat," lit "inflammation, heat," from phlegein "to burn," related to phlox (genitive phlogos) "flame, blaze," from PIE *bhleg- "to shine, flash," from root *bhel- (1) "to shine, flash, burn" (see bleach (v.)). Modern form is attested from c.1660. The "cold, moist" humor of the body, in medieval physiology, it was believed to cause apathy.

Wiktionary
phlegm

n. 1 (context historical English) 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 viscid mucus produced by the body, later especially mucus expelled from the bronchial passages by coughing. (from 14th c.) 3 (context historical chemistry alchemy English) A watery distillation, especially one obtained from plant matter; an aqueous solution. (from 16th c.) 4 calmness of temperament, composure; also seen negatively, sluggishness, indifference. (from 16th c.)

WordNet
phlegm
  1. n. apathy demonstrated by an absence of emotional reactions [syn: emotionlessness, impassivity, impassiveness, indifference, stolidity, unemotionality]

  2. expectorated matter; saliva mixed with discharges from the respiratory passages; in ancient and medieval physiology it was believed to cause sluggishness [syn: sputum]

  3. inactivity; showing an unusual lack of energy [syn: languor, lethargy, sluggishness]

Wikipedia
Phlegm

Phlegm ( "inflammation, humour caused by heat") is a liquid secreted by the mucous membranes of mammals. Its definition is limited to the mucus produced by the respiratory system, excluding that from the nasal passages, and particularly that which is expelled by coughing ( sputum). Phlegm is in essence a water-based gel consisting of glycoproteins, immunoglobulins, lipids and other substances. Its composition varies depending on climate, genetics, and state of the immune system. Its color can vary from transparent to pale or dark yellow and green, from light to dark brown, and even to dark grey depending on the constituents.

Phlegm (artist)

Phlegm is a British Sheffield-based muralist and artist who first developed his illustrations in self-published comics.The name 'Phlegm' came from one of the four temperaments in ancient Greek medicine; blood, yellow bile, black bile, and phlegm. Phlegm was believed to be responsible for an apathetic and unemotional temperament.

Usage examples of "phlegm".

When the whale is ill, the ambergris is formed--I suppose you could say it is no more complicated than the process by which phlegm is formed in your throat when you have a cold, and the whale coughs it up, or spews it out in the form of a liquid which hardens on exposure to the air.

This is not one of the fevers that strikes us every summer, but something new, in which the victim coughts up blood or chokes to death on his own phlegm.

Johnny, watching as he howked up some phlegm and splattered it onto the concrete of what was the old terraced floor of the east stand.

Toranaga retched again and spat out the phlegm, treading water, and thought, that will teach you to be smug.

There was a busy, bustling, disputatious tone about it, instead of the accustomed phlegm and drowsy tranquillity.

Smiling teeth popped and rattled as the two men embraced, full of loud throaty crooning greeting, yum yum yum and the voiced clearing of phlegm from pharyngeal tracts.

He lifted the bottle of nonalcoholic brew and grimaced at it while he hacked up a rattling glob of phlegm.

This dreadful maw was crammed to overflowing with spikelike teeth, the tips of which were stained with moist blood, and yet found room for a horrible purple tongue which dripped gooey phlegm.

Horrid, sulfury stuff, and did my phlegm no good, no good at all, in case any of you are thinking to try the waters for yourselves.

At first your fire must be slow so as to extract the gross phlegm of the matter, and when the spirit begins to appear, place the receiver under the retort, and Luna with the ammoniac salts will appear in it.

Next to where its feet would have been if it had had feet, a dog-sized lump of multilegged one-eyed phlegm lifted its rostrum and sniveled threateningly.

You were coughing so hard, spitting so much blood, I wanted to give you something to calm the spasms, but I thought you should bring up the phlegm without so much effort, too.

He fed Rhodry infusions of coltsfoot and elecampe to bring up the phlegm, hyssop and pennyroyal to make him sweat, and quaking aspen as a general febrifuge.

He was dark-freckled and carbuncular and afflicted with excess phlegm.

She ached all over, and her throat was still raw and her chest thick with phlegm, but it seemed that the beast with its hot claws and cold fingers was gone, and her mind was clear.