Rheum
noun, slang ·Common ·High school level
Definitions
- 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 a watery discharge from the mucous membranes (especially from the eyes or nose) wordnet
- 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 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 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."
Example
More examples"You that did voide your rume vpon my beard, / And foote me as you ſpurne a ſtranger curre / Ouer your threſhold, […]"
Etymology
From Middle English reume, rewme, from Anglo-Norman reume, from Late Latin rheuma, from Ancient Greek ῥεῦμα (rheûma, “stream, humour”). Doublet of stream.
Related phrases
More for "rheum"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.