phlegmとは 意味・読み方・使い方

発音

• (英国発音, 米国発音) IPA^(key): /flɛm/
• (廃れた用法) IPA^(key): /fliːm/^[3]
• 韻: -ɛm

名詞

phlegm (usually uncountable, 複数形 phlegms)

1. (historical) One of the four humors making up the body in ancient and mediaeval medicine; said to be cold and moist, and often identified with mucus. [from 13th c.]
   • 1993, William Dalrymple, City of Djinns, HarperCollins 1993:

     Each person's unique mixture of these substances determines his temperament: a predominance of blood gives a sanguine temperament; a predominance of phlegm makes one phlegmatic; yellow bile, bilious (または choleric); and black bile, melancholic.

2. Viscid mucus produced by the body, later especially mucus expelled from the bronchial passages by coughing. [from 14th c.]
   • 2005, "Endangered Species?" Hannah Beech, Time, 14 Nov 2005:

     "Even some members of the new bourgeoisie indulge in conspicuously boorish behavior, like hawking phlegm onto the pavement or picking their noses at business meetings."

4. (historical, chemistry, alchemy) A watery distillation, especially one obtained from plant matter; an aqueous solution. [from 16th c.]
   • 1812, Humphry Davy, The Elements of Chemical Philosophy, Introduction, Part I. Vol. I, pp. 50-51:

     The attempts made to analyse vegetable substances previous to 1720, merely produced their resolution into the supposed elements of the chemists of those days, namely, salts, Earths, phlegm, and sulphur.

5. Calmness of temperament, composure; also seen negatively, sluggishness, indifference. [from 16th c.]
   • 1941, Isaac Asimov, The Early Asimov, Volume 2, published 1974, page 180:

     Orloff's phlegm broke completely, and he snatched at the monocle as it dropped[.]

   • 1942, "Warning to Sweden", Time, 5 Oct 1942:

     But Swedish Nazis also talked of the necessity of saving Sweden from Bolshevism, and with the menacing Berlin radio gnawing in their ears many Swedes lost their Scandinavian phlegm.

派生語

• phlegmish
• phlegmy

関連する語

• phlegmatic

参照