Noah Webster
Phlem
PHLEM, noun [Gr. inflammation; and pituitous matter, to burn; hence the word must have originally expressed the matter formed by suppuration.]
1. Cold animal fluid; water matter; one of the four humors of which the ancients supposed the blood to be composed.
2. In common usage, bronchial mucus; the thick viscid matter secreted in the throat.
3. Among chimists, water, or the water of distillation.
4. Dullness; coldness; sluggishness; indifference.