rheum

American  

[room] / rum /

noun

1. a thin discharge of the mucous membranes, especially during a cold.

2. catarrh; cold.

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rheum British  

/ ruːm /

noun

1. a watery discharge from the eyes or nose

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Other Word Forms

• rheumic
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of rheum

1350–1400; Middle English reume < Late Latin rheuma < Greek rheûma ( rheu-, variant stem of rheîn to flow, stream + -ma noun suffix of result)

Explanation

Rheum is an old-fashioned word for the watery discharge that drips from your nose and eyes when you have a cold or allergies. You may come across the word rheum in 19th-century novels, or your doctor might use the term to describe your cold symptoms. It’s not the word you’d use in everyday speech, though. You wouldn't say, "My allergies are really acting up. Please excuse the rheum streaming down my face." But you might use the adjective rheumy to describe your dog's runny eyes or even your own. The word comes from the Greek rheuma, meaning "a stream, or current."

Example Sentences

Surprised and relieved that he could see me through all that rheum, I said, “How come?”

From Salon • Jan. 28, 2014

One of his comrades was drowned in a river whirlpool; he himself nigh died of a jungle rheum.

From Time Magazine Archive

Of "pocketable" bulk, it is a creature to fend for its weekending master or mistress against all skulking shapes of boredom, unsociability, indisposedness and even of palatal lassitude and the "thin rheum."

From Time Magazine Archive

There was plenty of rheum at the top.

From Time Magazine Archive

She being an old lady, somewhat troubled by rheum, and fearful lest the cough she had should disturb the Princess, made exchange of chambers with her son.

From The Tales Of The Heptameron, Vol. I. (of V.) by Saintsbury, George