Word.ws English Dictionary

rheumy

/ˈɹuːmi/US/ˈɹumi/

rheumy adjective: of, relating to, or made of rheum (“thin or watery discharge of mucus or serum”); watery.

Adjective

rheumy (comparative rheumier, superlative rheumiest)

  1. Of, relating to, or made of rheum (“thin or watery discharge of mucus or serum”); watery.
    Synonyms:
    rheumatic, rheumic
  2. Producing rheum from the mucous membranes; (also figuratively) especially of the eyes: filled with rheum; watery.
    • 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...
    • 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
    Synonyms:
    rheumed
  3. (literary, obsolete, poetic) Especially of the air: damp, moist.
    • 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]...
    • 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

Examples of rheumy in a sentence

  • 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...
  • 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:
  • […] 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...
  • 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...

Synonyms of rheumy

Forms of rheumy

comparativerheumier
superlativerheumiest

Origin of rheumy

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

Words formed from rheumy

Words that rhyme with rheumy

5 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about rheumy

What does rheumy mean?
Rheumy means of, relating to, or made of rheum (“thin or watery discharge of mucus or serum”); watery.
How do you use rheumy in a sentence?
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?
What part of speech is rheumy?
Rheumy is an adjective.
How do you pronounce rheumy?
Rheumy is pronounced /ˈɹuːmi/ (UK).

Words near rheumy in the dictionary

  1. rheumier
  2. rheumiest
  3. rheumily
  4. rheuminess
  5. rheums
  6. rheumy
  7. Rhew
  8. Rhewl
  9. Rhews
  10. rhexes
  11. rhexia

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: rheumy (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-rheumy.wav.

Cite this entry: “rheumy.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/rheumy. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.