rheum

Definition

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

Etymology

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

Example Sentences

• "You that did voide your rume vpon my beard, / And foote me as you ſpurne a ſtranger curre / Ouer your threſhold, […]"
• "[T]thronging theaters of people (as well Aliens as Engliſhmen) hiued thither about the ſelling of fiſh and Herring, from Saint Michael to Saint Martin, and there built ſutlers booths and tabernacles, to canopie their heads in from the rhewme of the heauens, or the clouds diſſoluing Cataracts."
• "He wore about his shoulders a heavy cloak; his pale face was drawn and his voice broken with rheum."