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Phlegm vs Fluid - What's the difference?

phlegm | fluid |

As nouns the difference between phlegm and fluid

is that phlegm is (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 while fluid is fluid.

phlegm

English

(wikipedia phlegm)

Noun

(en-noun)
  • (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.
  • * 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 (or choleric); and black bile, melancholic.
  • Viscid mucus produced by the body, later especially mucus expelled from the bronchial passages by coughing.
  • * 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."
  • (historical, chemistry, alchemy) A watery distillation, especially one obtained from plant matter; an aqueous solution.
  • Calmness of temperament, composure; also seen negatively, sluggishness, indifference.
  • * 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 .

    fluid

    English

    Noun

    (wikipedia fluid)
  • (physics) Any substance which can flow with relative ease, tends to assume the shape of its container, and obeys Bernoulli's principle; a liquid, gas or plasma.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-03
  • , author=Frank Fish, George Lauder , title=Not Just Going with the Flow , volume=101, issue=2, page=114 , magazine= citation , passage=An extreme version of vorticity is a vortex . The vortex is a spinning, cyclonic mass of fluid , which can be observed in the rotation of water going down a drain, as well as in smoke rings, tornados and hurricanes.}}

    Derived terms

    * amber fluid * brake fluid * fluid mechanics

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • (not comparable) Of or relating to fluid.
  • In a state of flux; subject to change.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-08-03, volume=408, issue=8847, magazine=(The Economist)
  • , title= Boundary problems , passage=Economics is a messy discipline: too fluid to be a science, too rigorous to be an art. Perhaps it is fitting that economists’ most-used metric, gross domestic product (GDP), is a tangle too. GDP measures the total value of output in an economic territory. Its apparent simplicity explains why it is scrutinised down to tenths of a percentage point every month.}}
  • Moving smoothly, or giving the impression of a liquid in motion.
  • (of an asset) Convertible into cash.