lymphatic

Meanings

1. 1
   adj

   relating to lymph or to the network of vessels and tissues that carries it through the body

   Gentle movement can help lymphatic fluid circulate through the body.

2. 2
   adj

   old-fashioned: pale, sluggish, or lacking energy, as once attributed to a particular bodily temperament

   The novelist portrays the lymphatic clerk as slow to react to every disturbance.

From French lymphatique or New Latin lymphaticus, built on Latin lympha ("clear water") + -atic. The dated temperament sense came from obsolete physiology that associated an excess of lymph with pallor, weak muscle tone, and sluggishness.

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