phlegmish

English

Etymology

From phlegm +‎ -ish.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /ˈflɛmɪʃ/

• Audio (Southern England):

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• Audio (General American):

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• Homophones: Flemish, flemish
• Rhymes: -ɛmɪʃ
• Hyphenation: phlegm‧ish

Adjective

phlegmish (comparative more phlegmish, superlative most phlegmish)

2. Laden with phlegm, as a cough.

   Synonym: phlegmy

   • 1976, Edward Dahlberg, Bottom Dogs, From Flushing to Calvary, Those who Perish, and Hitherto Unpublished and Uncollected Works‎:

     His front legs doubled under him, and he lay down, his nose in his own water, biting the phlegmish froth and dust around his mouth and gaping like a stuffed animal in a taxidermist's window.

   • 2001, Stereophile‎, volume 24, numbers 7-12, page 123:

     This was plainly apparent with solo piano recordings; it seemed as if a layer of phlegmish tubercular congestion had been removed from between the strings.

4. Characterized by the humor phlegm; apathetic or composed.

   Synonym: phlegmatic

   • 1966, The American Writer and the Great Depression‎, page 292:

     His concern soothed her and she breathed heavily, densely, with a thick phlegmish pity for herself.

   • 2002, Briton Hadden, Henry Robinson Luce, Time‎, volume 160, page 72:

     I was raised among them, though I fled their phlegmish company decades ago to join the chattering classes.

   • 2006, The Spectator‎, volume 301, page 33:

     […] 'the Lady Pusillanimous' is a mild echo of his invective against his first wife Pamela Lane whom he was just splitting up from: 'That bitch, that pusillanimous, sycophantic, snivelling, phlegmish yokel, that cow — fortunately I've ceased to care what happens to her' — which didn't stop him sleeping with her now and then after he had remarried, nor from supporting her financially

   • 2012, Nabil Shehaby, The Propositional Logic of Avicenna: A Translation from al-Shifāʾ: al-Qiyās‎, translation of original by Avicenna:

     The example (for the third kind) when the (principal proposition) is separative is: 'Either this fever is either yellowish or scarlet, or this fever is either phlegmish or melancholic'.