15 entries found
phlegm (n.)
late 14c., fleem, fleume, "viscid mucus, discharge from a mucous membrane of the body," also the name of one of the four bodily humors, from Old French fleume (13c., Modern French flegme), from Late Latin phlegma, one of the four humors of the body, from Greek phlegma "morbid, clammy bodily humor caused by heat;" literally "inflammation, flame, fire, 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."
The modern form of the word is attested by c. 1660. In old physiology it was the "cold, moist" humor of the body and a predominance of it was believed to cause dullness, lethargy, and apathy, hence phlegmatic.phlegmy (adj.)
early 15c., fleumi, "caused by an excess of phlegm (the bodily humor);" mid-15c., "sluggish;" from phlegm (q.v.) + -y (2). In reference to mucous or watery discharge by 1540s.phlegmatic (adj.)
mid-14c., fleumatik, "having the temperament formerly supposed to result from predominance of the bodily humor phlegm" (cool, calm, self-possessed, and in a pejorative sense, cold, dull, apathetic;) late 14c., "composed of phlegm (the bodily humor); containing phlegm," from Old French fleumatique (13c., Modern French flegmatique), from Late Latin phlegmaticus, from Greek phlegmatikos "abounding in phlegm" (see phlegm). Related: Phlegmatical; phlegmatically.
A verry flewmatike man is in the body lustles, heuy and slow. [Bartholomew Glanville, "De proprietatibus rerum," c. 1240, translated by John of Trevisa c. 1398]*bhel- (1)
Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to shine, flash, burn," also "shining white" and forming words for bright colors.
It forms all or part of: beluga; Beltane; black; blancmange; blanch; blank; blanket; blaze (n.1) "bright flame, fire;" bleach; bleak; blemish; blench; blende; blend; blind; blindfold; blitzkrieg; blond; blue (adj.1); blush; conflagration; deflagration; effulgence; effulgent; flagrant; flambe; flambeau; flamboyant; flame; flamingo; flammable; Flavian; Flavius; fulgent; fulminate; inflame; inflammable; phlegm; phlegmatic; phlogiston; phlox; purblind; refulgent; riboflavin.
It is the hypothetical source of/evidence for its existence is provided by: Sanskrit bhrajate "shines;" Greek phlegein "to burn;" Latin flamma "flame," fulmen "lightning," fulgere "to shine, flash," flagrare "to burn, blaze, glow;" Old Church Slavonic belu "white;" Lithuanian balnas "pale."hore (n.)
"dirt, filth," also hor; from Old English horh "phlegm, mucus," horu "foulness, dirt, defilement," from Proto-Germanic *horwo- (source also of Old Frisian hore, Old High German horo, Old Norse horr), perhaps imitative of coughing up phlegm.expectoration (n.)
"act of discharging phlegm or mucus from the throat or lungs by coughing or hawking and spitting," 1670s, noun of action from expectorate.snuffle (n.)
1764, "sound made by snuffling," from snuffle (v.). Old English had snofl (n.) "phlegm, mucus." The snuffles "troublesome mucous discharge from the nostrils" is from 1770.retch (v.)
1540s, "to clear the throat, to cough up phlegm" (a sense now obsolete), from Old English hræcan "to cough up, spit" (related to hraca "phlegm"), from Proto-Germanic *khrækijan (source also of Old High German rahhison "to clear one's throat"), of imitative origin (compare Lithuanian kregėti "to grunt"). Meaning "make efforts to vomit" is from 1850; sense of "to vomit" is attested by 1888. Related: Retched; retching.expectorant (n.)
in medicine, "a drug which promotes or or facilitates phlegm or other such matter from the body by means of expectoration," 1782, from Latin expectorantem (nominative expectorans), present participle of expectorare (see expectorate). From 1811 as an adjective.pip (n.2)
"disease of poultry consisting of a secretion of thick mucus which forms a white scale around the tongue," late 14c., pippe, probably from Middle Dutch pippe "mucus," from West Germanic *pipit (source also of East Frisian pip, Middle High German pfipfiz, German Pips), an early borrowing from Vulgar Latin *pippita, an unexplained alteration of Latin pituita "phlegm" (see pituitary).