Rheum

//ɹuːm// noun, slang

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    Thin or watery discharge of mucus or serum, especially from the eyes or nose, formerly thought to cause disease. uncountable

    "You that did voide your rume vpon my beard, / And foote me as you ſpurne a ſtranger curre / Ouer your threſhold, […]"

  2. 2
    a watery discharge from the mucous membranes (especially from the eyes or nose) wordnet
  3. 3
    Illness or disease thought to be caused by such secretions; a catarrh, a cold; rheumatism. countable, uncountable

    "And not as ſome yeeres ſince, I ſaw a Deane of S. Hillarie of Poictiers, reduced by reaſon and the incommoditie of his melancholy to ſuch a continuall ſolitarineſſe, that when I entered into his chamber he had never remooved one ſteppe out of it in twoo and twenty yeares before: yet had all his faculties free and eaſie, onely a rheume excepted that fell into his ſtomake."

  4. 4
    Tears. countable, poetic, uncountable

    "Rich. And ſay, what ſtore of parting tears were ſhed? / Aum. Faith none for me: except the Northeaſt wind / Which then grew bitterly againſt our face, / Awak’d the ſleepie rhewme, and ſo by chance / Did grace our hollow parting with a teare."

  5. 5
    Rheumatologist. countable, informal, uncountable

    "[…] the other rheumatologist in the practice I saw after that first meeting was irritated because my history was completely wrong. Not [irritated] at me, [but] the other rheum. […] I had to switch rheums at one point due to insurance problems. […] Thank god my good rheum’s office sorted out the insurance."

Etymology

From Middle English reume, rewme, from Anglo-Norman reume, from Late Latin rheuma, from Ancient Greek ῥεῦμα (rheûma, “stream, humour”). Doublet of stream.

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