Dictionary

rheumy en · ADJ

Pronunciation

• /ˈɹuːmi/ (Received-Pronunciation)
• /ˈɹumi/ (General-American)
• (Southern-England) audio

Etymology

From rheum + -y (suffix forming adjectives meaning ‘having the quality of’).

Meanings

1. Of, relating to, or made of rheum (“thin or watery discharge of mucus or serum”); watery.
2. Producing rheum from the mucous membranes; (also figuratively) especially of the eyes: filled with rheum; watery.
   • But were it not curious to know how Sieyes, now in these days (for he is said to be still alive) looks out on all that Constitution masonry, through the rheumy soberness of extreme age? 1837, Thomas Carlyle, “The Procession”, in The French Revolution: A History […], volume I (The Bastille), London: Chapman and Hall, →OCLC, book IV (States-General), pages 144–145:
   • So, too-much Cold couers vvith hoary Fleece / The head of Age, his fleſh diminiſhes, / VVithers his face, hollovves his rheumy eyes, / And makes himſelf euen his ovvn ſelf deſpiſe; […] 1608, [Guillaume de Salluste] Du Bartas, “[Du Bartas His First Week, or Birth of the World: […].] The Second Daie of the First Week.”, in Josuah Sylvester, transl., Du Bartas His Deuine Weekes and Workes […], 3rd edition, London: […] Humfrey Lownes [and are to be sold by Arthur Iohnson […]], published 1611, →OCLC, page 28:
   • […] Gately draws himself up to his full menacing height and shines his flashlight in the little homeowner’s rheumy eyes and addresses him the way menacing criminals speak in popular entertainment— […] 1996, David Foster Wallace, “Year of the Depend Adult Undergarment”, in Infinite Jest […], Boston, Mass.; New York, N.Y.: Little, Brown and Company, →ISBN, page 57:
   • Eventually we'd find a date and we'd meet up, his eyes a little rheumier, his untrained eyebrows even more adventurous than last year. 2022, Hugh Bonneville, “Hidden on the Hard Drive”, in Playing under the Piano: From Downton to Darkest Peru, New York, N.Y.: Other Press, →ISBN, part 3 (Roll Sound), page 282:
   • Awoke calm in the morning, clearheaded. Lungs rheumier than usual, though. 1998, Jascha Kessler, Rapid Transit: 1948: An Unsentimental Education, [Bloomington, Ind.]: Xlibris, →ISBN, page 224:
   • The Northern Breath, that freezes Floods, he binds; / VVith all the race of Cloud-diſpelling VVinds: / […] / From his divided Beard tvvo Streams he pours, / His Head and rhumy Eyes diſtill in Shovvers. 1717, John Dryden, “Book I”, in Ovid’s Metamorphoses in Fifteen Books. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, page 12:
   • Her wizened face beneath straggling gray hair gathered in a bun, held the kindest, but rheumiest of faded blue eyes. 2014 January 20, Rebeccah Apling, chapter 5, in The Gutenberg Connection, Bloomington, Ind.: WestBow Press, Thomas Nelson & Zondervan, →ISBN, page 57:
   • Her lips were clammy, but in her rheumy eyes there still burned the light of a vague desire. 1929, Robert Dean Frisbie, The Book of Puka-Puka, London: Eland Books, published 2019, →ISBN, page 100:
3. (literary, obsolete, poetic) Especially of the air: damp, moist.
   • The reumy vault vvill force your eyes to vveepe, / VVhilſt you behold true deſolation: […] c. 1603 (date written), Iohn Marston, The Malcontent, London: […] V[alentine] S[immes] for William Aspley, […], published 1604, →OCLC, Act IV, scene iv, signature G, recto:
   • And vvill he ſteale out of his vvholſome bed / To dare the vile contagion of the Night? / And tempt the Rhevvmy, and vnpurged Ayre, / To adde vnto hit^([sic – meaning his]) ſickneſſe? 1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Iulius Cæsar”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i], page 116, column 1:
   • Avoiding observation as much as they conveniently could, the two sisters walked from the long wooden shed which formed the station here, into the rheumy air and along the road to the open country. 1876, Thomas Hardy, “The Royal Academy—The Harefield Estate”, in The Hand of Ethelberta: A Comedy in Chapters […], volume I, London: Smith, Elder, & Co., […], →OCLC, page 287:

Forms

Deriveds

rheumily · rheuminess

Relateds

bleareyed · rheumatic fever · rheumatism · rheumatoid · rheumatic · rheumatiz · rheumatismal · rheumatology · rheumatologist · rheumatize · rheumatological · rheumaticky · rheumed · rheumatically · bleary-eyed

Synonyms

rheumic · rheumed · rheumatic

Translations (19)

hu nyálkás (of, relating to, or made of rheum) · fi kuola- (of, relating to, or made of rheum) · fi rähmäinen (producing rheum from the mucous membranes; especially of the eyes: filled with rheum — see also watery) · mk на́влажнет (of, relating to, or made of rheum) · fr chassieux (producing rheum from the mucous membranes; especially of the eyes: filled with rheum — see also watery) · hu nyálka- (of, relating to, or made of rheum) · hu csipás (producing rheum from the mucous membranes; especially of the eyes: filled with rheum — see also watery) · de wässrig (producing rheum from the mucous membranes; especially of the eyes: filled with rheum — see also watery) · fi rähmä- (of, relating to, or made of rheum) · ca lleganyós (producing rheum from the mucous membranes; especially of the eyes: filled with rheum — see also watery) · ro urduros (of, relating to, or made of rheum) · sh реу̀матски (of, relating to, or made of rheum) · sv surögd (producing rheum from the mucous membranes; especially of the eyes: filled with rheum — see also watery) · mk гу́релав (producing rheum from the mucous membranes; especially of the eyes: filled with rheum — see also watery) · pl kaprawy (producing rheum from the mucous membranes; especially of the eyes: filled with rheum — see also watery) · cy molog (producing rheum from the mucous membranes; especially of the eyes: filled with rheum — see also watery) · fi räkä- (of, relating to, or made of rheum) · sh reùmatski (of, relating to, or made of rheum) · nds-de wäterig (producing rheum from the mucous membranes; especially of the eyes: filled with rheum — see also watery)