pus

[ puhs ]

/ pʌs /

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noun

a yellow-white, more or less viscid substance produced by suppuration and found in abscesses, sores, etc., consisting of a liquid plasma in which white blood cells are suspended.

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Origin of pus

1535–45; <Latin; akin to Greek pýon pus. See pyo-

OTHER WORDS FROM pus

puslike, adjective

WORDS THAT MAY BE CONFUSED WITH pus

pus , puss

Words nearby pus

purusha, purvey, purveyance, purveyor, purview, pus, Pusan, Pusey, Puseyism, push, push about

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use pus in a sentence

Infection can last two to four weeks, and monkeypox can spread when viral material from pus makes contact with open wounds, or through short-lived respiratory droplets.
There’s a second case of monkeypox in the US this year—but don’t freak out|Hannah Seo|November 18, 2021|Popular-Science
With inoculation, pus from an infected person was gathered, either in a small vial or by passing a string through one of the sores, and then passed through an open cut in a healthy subject.
Mandatory immunization for the military: As American as George Washington|Gillian Brockell|August 26, 2021|Washington Post
However, because every person at that time had an understanding of the power of disease, unprotected troops engaged in desperate attempts at home self-innoculations using pus from the oozing sores of infected friends and neighbors.
As U.S. COVID-19 Deaths Top the Civil War’s Toll, We're Repeating Disease History|Rachel Lance|August 14, 2021|Time
In some cases people inhaled the dried scabs of smallpox lesions or rubbed or injected pus from smallpox lesions into a healthy person’s scratched skin.
Vaccine hesitancy is nothing new. Here’s the damage it’s done over centuries|Tara Haelle|May 11, 2021|Science News

Variolation was often done using pus from an infected person’s pox that doctors inserted into a cut.
Wearing a mask could protect you from COVID-19 in more ways than you think|Kat Eschner|September 10, 2020|Popular-Science
Swelling, pus, the whole shebang; an angry reaction that lasted weeks.
Uh Oh: Ebola Vaccine Trials Stop|Leigh Cowart|December 19, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Various scratches and cuts line her arms and face; a pus-filled abscess burns on her right arm.
Hallucinating Away a Heroin Addiction|Abby Haglage|May 4, 2014|DAILY BEAST
At that point, Tyson had become a scavenger spewing bile and pus.
Bloody Brilliant|Stanley Crouch|April 24, 2009|DAILY BEAST
It is thinner than that of chronic bronchitis, and upon standing separates into three layers of pus, mucus, and frothy serum.
A Manual of Clinical Diagnosis|James Campbell Todd
When at all abundant, pus forms a white sediment resembling amorphous phosphates macroscopically.
A Manual of Clinical Diagnosis|James Campbell Todd
Pus-casts may appear if the process extends up into the kidney tubules (see Fig. 62).
A Manual of Clinical Diagnosis|James Campbell Todd
In suppurations of the urinary tract pus-producing organisms may be found.
A Manual of Clinical Diagnosis|James Campbell Todd
On the other hand, except in children, where the percentage is normally low, pus is uncommon with less than 80 per cent.
A Manual of Clinical Diagnosis|James Campbell Todd

British Dictionary definitions for pus

pus

/ (pʌs) /

noun

the yellow or greenish fluid product of inflammation, composed largely of dead leucocytes, exuded plasma, and liquefied tissue cells

Word Origin for pus

C16: from Latin pūs; related to Greek puon pus

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Scientific definitions for pus

pus

[ pŭs ]

A thick, yellowish-white liquid that forms in infected body tissues, consisting of white blood cells, dead tissue, and cellular debris.