Hello, you have come here looking for the meaning of the word
dephlegm. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
dephlegm, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
dephlegm in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
dephlegm you have here. The definition of the word
dephlegm will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition of
dephlegm, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.
English
Etymology
From de- + phlegm; compare French déphlegmer, déflegmer.
Verb
dephlegm (third-person singular simple present dephlegms, present participle dephlegming, simple past and past participle dephlegmed)
- (obsolete, physical chemistry) To rid of phlegm or water; to dephlegmate.
1684, Robert Boyle, Memoirs for the Natural History of the Human Blood:Having almost filled a vial, capable of containing near a pound of human blood, with a mixture of that, and some rectify'd spirit of wine, by guess a fourth, or an eighth part; at the end of above three years, looking upon the same glass, stopt with nothing but a cork, we found it coagulated, or of a consistent form: when the vessel being unstopp'd, there appeared no sign of putrefaction in the blood; and having smelt to it, we could not perceive that it was fetid: so balsamic a vertue has dephlegmed spirit of wine to preserve it.