phlegm

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   thick mucus produced in the respiratory passages, especially when coughed up

   The infection left him coughing up phlegm for several days.

2. 2
   noun

   calm self-possession or an apparent absence of emotion, especially under pressure

   She received the alarming news with remarkable phlegm.

3. 3
   noun

   in ancient and medieval medicine, one of the four bodily humors, considered cold and moist

   Humoral physicians associated an excess of phlegm with a slow, unemotional temperament.

From Middle English fleume, through Old French and Latin phlegma, from Ancient Greek phlegma ("inflammation; bodily humor"), related to phlegein ("to burn"). The classical humor was later identified with mucus; the figurative sense developed from the supposedly calm, sluggish temperament it produced.

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