Hypertext Webster Gateway: "phlegm"
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
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.
From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)
phlegm
n 1: 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}]
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