rheumaticadj.n.
/ruːˈmatɪk/, U.S. /ruˈmædɪk/ A. adj.† 1. † c. In extended use: (a) tearful; (b) phlegmatic. rare.
a. Of the nature of rheum; consisting of or containing rheum (see rheum n.1 1a); = rheumy adj. 1. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > the body > secretory organs > secretion > mucus > [adjective]
rheumatica1398
phlegmy?c1425
phlegmaticc1503
mucous1578
pituitous1578
rheumy1583
phlegmatical1586
pituous1617
pituitose1710
mucoid1849
mucoidal1849
myxoid1890
a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add. 27944) (1975) I. v. xxxv. 236 Þe longe is greued..somtyme by reumatik [MS reunatik] humour comynge to þe pypis of þe longe, and þanne ben diuers passiouns ibred..as squynancy, tisik, kouȝhe, hoosnes, rownes of þe voys.
?c1425 tr. Guy de Chauliac Grande Chirurgie (Paris) (1971) 492 (MED) It is grauntede by Rogeryne..to drye þe reumatik mater (and moste in children).
c1475 ( Surg. Treat. in MS Wellcome 564 f. 19v (MED) In þis same boon..þer beþ oþere litel hoolis..bi the whiche summe reumatik superfluytes beþ sent out from þe brayn.
1547 A. Borde Breuiary of Helthe i. f. liii A reumatyke humour suppressynge the brayne.
1594 T. Nashe Vnfortunate Traveller sig. B2 After hee had..spunged..all the rumatike driuell from his ill fauoured Goates beard.
1606 T. Dekker Newes from Hell sig. E2v More salt Rewmatick water runnes out of them, than would pickle all the Herrings that shall come out of Yarmouth.
1696 J. Floyer Preternatural State Animal Humours xiii. 158 The Blood taken away looked very Sizie or Rheumatic.
b. Full of rheum; overflowing or dripping with rheum; = rheumy adj. 3. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > the body > secretory organs > secretion > mucus > [adjective] > full of or covered with
gleimousa1398
rheumatic1599
rheumy1605
muculent1656
submucous1684
mucose1731
rheumeda1821
1599 T. Nashe Lenten Stuffe 47 Shee..had rumatique sore eyes that ran alwaies.
1601 P. Holland tr. Pliny Hist. World II. xx. xx. 69 Rheumaticke ulcers.
1607 T. Walkington Optick Glasse 71 He was wiping his rheumatick nose.
1672 R. Boyle Ess. Origine & Virtues Gems 128 Lapis Tutiæ..is also much imploy'd in Rheumatick Eyes.
1702 J. Moyle Chirurgus Marinus (ed. 4) xlviii. 310 This excelleth all other Ocular Colyriums whatever, in..things that Obfuscate the sight; yea, and Blood-shot and Rheumatic Eyes.
1775 T. Wallis Farrier's & Horseman's Compl. Dict. (ed. 3) (at cited word) Rheumatic Eyes in horses, are caused by a flux of humours distilling from the brain, and sometimes by a blow; the signs are, the continual watering of the eye, and his close shutting the lids.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > inaction > disinclination to act or listlessness > [adjective] > of feelings, qualities, etc.
rheumatica1627
lethargine1656
lethargean1659
lethargical1661
vigourless1759
lethargized1817
Monday-morning1921
the mind > emotion > suffering > sorrow or grief > lamentation or expression of grief > weeping > [adjective]
weepingc900
wopi?c1225
greetingfula1340
greetyc1350
weeplyc1374
weepfula1382
weepinglyc1440
lachrymablec1450
moistc1450
lachrymous1490
rainy1563
tearfula1586
greeting1588
collachrymate1593
crying1594
onion-eyeda1616
maudlinc1616
rheumatica1627
fluxed1628
lachrymalc1630
crystal-droppinga1650
showery1654
lugent1656
Niobean1665
lachrymary1693
lachrymose1727
moist-eyed1797
larmoyant1824
pluviose1824
ploratory1831
lachrymating1837
screwmatic1847
pipy1861
weepy1863
blarting1898
leaky1905
a1627 J. Fletcher & T. Middleton Nice Valour ii. i, in F. Beaumont & J. Fletcher Comedies & Trag. (1647) sig. Ttt4/2 The Rhumaticke story of some loving Chandler.
a1680 S. Charnock Several Disc. Existence of God (1682) 762 We present him with a sleepy, sickly, rheumatick service.
2. † a. Of a person: suffering from an abnormal flow or discharge of rheum. Obsolete.
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the world > health and disease > ill health > a disease > discharge or flux > [adjective] > mucous discharge > catarrh
phlegmatica1398
rheumatic?a1425
catarrhal1651
gastro-catarrhal1833
the world > health and disease > ill health > a disease > disorders of internal organs > disorder of respiratory organs > [adjective] > common cold or catarrh
rheumatic?a1425
colded1486
catarrhal1651
catarrhous1651
catarrhish1689
sniffly1927
?a1425 tr. Guy de Chauliac Grande Chirurgie (N.Y. Acad. Med.) f. 76v (MED) Þat þis cure be artificiale is proued bi Galien..which dide it at Rome in a reumatic man..suffryng apostem empimicus in þe thorace.
1574 E. Hellowes tr. A. de Guevara Familiar Epist. 190 By sleeping in an ayry place, you haue ben very rumatike.
1593 W. Shakespeare Venus & Adonis sig. Biijv Were I hard-fauourd, foule, or wrinckled old,..Ore-worne, despised, reumatique, and cold. View more context for this quotation
1655 tr. C. Sorel Comical Hist. Francion viii. 19 A defluction which fell upon my Lungs did make me very rheumatick.
1661 N. Culpeper Pharmacopœia Londinensis 13/1 They are good for Rhewmatick people to chew in their mouth, for they draw forth much water.
b. Affected with or predisposed to rheumatism. Also figurative.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > ill health > a disease > diseases of tissue > disorders of joints > [adjective] > rheumatism or arthritis > affected with
arthritic?a1425
arthritical1528
rheumatic1728
rheumaticky1852
osteoarthritic1891
polyarthritic1901
osteoarthrotic1964
1728 E. Chambers Cycl. at Rheumatism The Urine of Rheumatic People does not afford above a thirtieth Part of the Alcaline Salt found in that of healthful People.
1785 S. J. Pratt Misc. I. 114 The man with the rheumatic legs..was at last, compell'd to fly.
1834 J. Forbes et al. Cycl. Pract. Med. III. 608/1 We have seen leeches when applied to a rheumatic joint prematurely..exasperate every symptom.
1852 S. Thomson Dict. Domest. Med. 442/2 Many rheumatic patients find their chief protection in an underdress of chamois leather.
1866 Every Sat. 4 Aug. 131/1 Our equipage consisted, at such times, of a very rheumatic carriage, and four still more rheumatic horses.
1908 E. F. Benson Climber 140 By then..I shall be raddled in the face and rheumatic in the joints.
1934 E. Sitwell Aspects Mod. Poetry i. 14 The cramped and rheumatic eight-syllable lines..are not suitable to his themes.
1992 P. Ling Flood Water (1993) (BNC) 32 As fast as her rheumatic legs would carry her, she toddled round to the Rope Walk.
2005 B. Gonzalez Mapmaker's Opera 57 His rheumatic legs were a torture.
3. Of, or with allusion to, climate, atmospheric conditions, the air, etc.† a. Inducing a flow of rheum. Obsolete.
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the world > health and disease > ill health > a disease > disorders of internal organs > disorder of respiratory organs > [adjective] > common cold or catarrh > causing
rheumatic?a1425
catch-cold1792
?a1425 tr. Guy de Chauliac Grande Chirurgie (N.Y. Acad. Med.) f. 25 (MED) Þerfor in þe first be þer chosen aer clene..& clere noȝt humid ne reumatic.
1565 Abp. M. Parker Let. 29 Dec. in Corr. (1853) (modernized text) 250 If any offence be taken for my not oft attending, and to come over the reumatike Tempsis.
1589 G. Peele Eglogue Gratulatorie xxxviii And evening air is rheumatick and cold.
1609 T. Dekker Guls Horne-bk. sig. C2 The Sun..hath..refind that thicke tobacco-breath which the rheumaticke night throwes abroad.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Merry Wives of Windsor (1623) iii. i. 44 In your doublet and hose, this raw-rumaticke day? View more context for this quotation
a1680 N. Wanley Hist. Man (1704) cxxvi. 517 A black Gorsy Soil, a raw Rheumatick Air, or some craggy and squalid, wild disconsolate Hills.
b. Of weather, or a place or its climate: tending to induce or exacerbate rheumatism.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > ill health > a disease > diseases of tissue > disorders of joints > [adjective] > rheumatism or arthritis > causing
rheumatic1764
rheumatizing1852
1764 E. Carter Let. 18 May in Lett. Mrs. Montagu (1817) I. lx. 215 This treacherous sunshine..conceals the severity of the north-east wind,..for this is sad rheumatic weather; I am seized by the neck and one arm.
1833 Edinb. Med. & Surg. Jrnl. 39 10 At Bermuda rheumatism does not bear the proportion of a sixteenth... Yet the popular and medico-popular opinion..is, that Bermuda is a rheumatic climate.
1856 F. E. Paget Owlet of Owlstone Edge 23 Church towers are..warmer and less rheumatic than hollow trees.
1879 Mrs. A. G. F. E. James Indian Househ. Managem. 14 India is a very rheumatic country.
1949 D. Thomas Let. 17 Feb. (1987) 700 I wish I could speedily return to Scotland: here it is low and sodden, moley and owly, rheumatic, cloddish.
2001 J. B. Gordon in S. I. Salamensky Talk, Talk, Talk iii. xv. 207 The foggy, rheumatic climate of Bleak House.
4. Of a disease.† a. Caused by the abnormal production or flow of rheum; characterized by the discharge of rheum; catarrhal. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > ill health > a disease > discharge or flux > [adjective] > mucous discharge
rheumatic?c1425
mucous1754
blennorrhagic1879
the world > health and disease > ill health > a disease > diseases of tissue > disorders of joints > [adjective] > rheumatism or arthritis
rheumatic?c1425
rheumatical1684
rheumatismatic1695
rheumatismal1820
rheumatoid1845
rheumatoidal1848
screwmatic1893
palindromic1941
?c1425 tr. Guy de Chauliac Grande Chirurgie (Paris) (1971) 569 (MED) Suche cauteries helpe..to ham þat haue þe ptisik, and to alle reumatik passiouns.
1563 T. Gale Certaine Wks. Chirurg. iv. ii. f. 82 Thys woode hath a synguler propertie..agaynste many other moyste and rumiticke sicknesses.
1600 W. Shakespeare Midsummer Night's Dream ii. i. 105 The Moone (the gouernesse of floods)..washes all the aire; That Rheumaticke diseases doe abound. View more context for this quotation
1688 R. Holme Acad. Armory ii. 136/1 Rewmatick, or the Slavering Madness.
1694 J. Peachi Some Observ. Calumba Wood 5 A young Gentlewoman extreamly afflicted with Rheumatick Distempers, and by going often into Hot-houses to sweat, had brought her self into Hectick Feavers.
1710 T. Fuller Pharmacopœia Extemporanea 95 This Draught usually gives great Relief in a (let me call it) Guttural Rheumatic and Evening Cough, caused by catching Cold.
b. Of the nature of or resembling rheumatism. In later use also: (Medicine) designating any of a diverse group of diseases, often of inflammatory or autoimmune origin, which affect the joints, muscles, or, more generally, connective tissue, and which form the subject matter of rheumatology.See also rheumatic fever n.
ΚΠ
1715 P. Kennedy Ess. External Remedies iii. 56 Sweating in the Salt Pans, is of wonderful Use in Rheumatic, Arthritic, Paralytic, or Nervous Distempers.
1783 J. C. Smyth in Med. Communications 1 152 A kind of arthritis vaga (or what is vulgarly called rheumatic gout).
1836–9 Todd's Cycl. Anat. & Physiol. II. 518/2 We are acquainted with no disease which more frequently produces deformity of the hand and fingers than chronic rheumatism (chronic rheumatic arthritis).
1861 G. Hartwig Pract. Treat. Sea-bathing & Sea-air (ed. 2) ii. 15 Rheumatic and arthritical complaints are not unfrequently followed by permanent weakness or lameness of the affected part.
1890 H. Lane Differentiation in Rheumatic Dis. 13 In rheumatic arthritis we have found a monarthritis more the exception than the rule.
1933 Lancet 16 Dec. 1408/1 It has hot acid and alkaline waters, and volcanic muds, and reports show that their value in rheumatic diseases of the soft tissues can be attributed to their influence on the circulation.
1991 Here's Health Jan. 29/2 The thermal water..benefits rheumatic and arthritic disorders.
2007 Independent 19 Feb. (Extra section) 4/1 Bee venom stimulates the release of cortisone (cortisol) and is said to be effective in treating rheumatic diseases.
5. Of, relating to, or characteristic of rheumatism or (Medicine) rheumatic diseases (see sense A. 4b).
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > ill health > a disease > diseases of tissue > disorders of joints > [adjective] > rheumatism or arthritis > relating to
rheumatic1699
1699 G. Harvey Vanities Philos. & Physick Introd. sig. A3v They were generally taken with Coughs, Drowsiness, moveable Ioint-pains, commonly termed Rheumatic Pains.
1711 J. Swift Jrnl. to Stella 19 Sept. (1948) I. 363 She is lame in one of her legs with a rheumatick pain.
1746 T. Short Medicina Britannica 290 Trefoil..is of singular service in all arthritic and rheumatic Pains.
1811 J. Austen Sense & Sensibility I. viii. 88 A slight rheumatic feel in one of his shoulders. View more context for this quotation
a1836 R. Williams Medicine in Encycl. Metrop. (1845) VII. 681 In scarlatina the joints are often the seat of the severest rheumatic inflammation.
1887 Brit. Med. Jrnl. 5 Mar. 510/2 Rheumatic pyrexia.
1905 Trans. & Proc. N.Z. Inst. 1904 37 113 Ranunculus rivularis. (Waoriki.) The expressed juice, which has blistering qualities, is used for rheumatic..joint-diseases.
1931 E. Ferber Amer. Beauty iv. 82 Nance gave a rheumatic prance and a galumph like a cloth horse in a pantomime.
1940 Railroad Mag. Apr. 55/2 (advt.) These poisons may start nagging backaches, rheumatic pains, loss of pep and energy, getting up nights, swelling, puffiness under the eyes, headaches and dizziness.
1976 Lancet 27 Nov. 1202/2 The hospital's closure was strenuously opposed by the consultant rheumatologists to whom it was obvious that to halve the number of beds in the regional centre would gravely impair the rheumatic service.
1993 Dict. National Biogr.: Missing Persons at D. W. Winnicott For ten years he was in charge of the London county council rheumatic and heart clinic.
1998 C. Mims When we Die (1999) iii. 55 Pritchard had used aconite, a drug extracted from monkshood or wolfbane root, and used to be applied externally to treat rheumatic complaints.
B. n.
1. A person suffering from rheumatism or a rheumatic disease.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > ill health > a disease > diseases of tissue > disorders of joints > [noun] > rheumatism or arthritis > person
rheumatic1738
1738 J. Burton Treat. Non-naturals ii. 123 The Blood of the Rheumatics was not so much inflam'd this Year as in the former.
1767 D. Schulz von Schulzenheim Acct. Inoculation Small-pox 20 Rheumatics full of Blood and who have glutinous Serum, get generally a favourable Kind, and few Physicians hesitate upon inoculating them.
1841 C. Dickens Barnaby Rudge xxvi. 83 Being but a hewer of wood and drawer of water, she is a rheumatic.
1884 Harper's Mag. Aug. 439/2 Rheumatics, who so largely preponderate among the invalided visitors.
1912 Amer. Jrnl. Nursing 12 560 It is a peculiarity of this disease [sc. rheumatoid arthritis] that patients are not affected by changes from dry to humid climate, as are rheumatics.
1992 D. Morgan Rising in West ii. vii. 117 Charles Fox Parham was a sickly rheumatic who ran a small Bible school in Topeka, Kansas, in the closing years of the nineteenth century.
2008 Jrnl. Chem. Health & Safety 15 5/2 Physicians monitored the amount of salicyluric acid in the urine of rheumatics.
2.
a. colloquial. In plural. Rheumatic pains; rheumatism. Frequently with the.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > ill health > a disease > diseases of tissue > disorders of joints > [noun] > rheumatism or arthritis
arthritis1543
rheum1667
rheumatism1670
rheumatiz1760
rheumatica1796
arthrosia1822
screwmatic1832
rheumatoid arthritis1859
arthritism1868
polyarthritis1868
osteoarthritis1878
panarthritis1890
screw1897
Still's disease1905
rheumatic1918
osteoarthrosis1932
RA1957
a1796 R. Burns Poems & Songs (1968) II. 791 Whan fevers burn, or agues freeze us, Rheumatics gnaw, or colic squeeze us.
1803 M. Charlton Wife & Mistress (ed. 2) IV. 166 John's hands were so contracted by the rheumatics that had settled in them.
1836 London Med. Gaz. 22 Oct. 117/2 ‘I think,’ to use the language of the lower classes, ‘I have got the rheumatics,’ means simply that the patient has pains in his limbs.
1852 S. Thomson Dict. Domest. Med. 439/2 The acute form of rheumatism..is popularly named the ‘rheumatics’, whilst the chronic form..is known..in vulgar parlance as ‘the rheumatiz’.
1897 T. C. Allbutt et al. Syst. Med. III. 57 The ‘rheumatics’ so often complained of by elderly patients.
1944 ‘F. O'Connor’ Crab Apple Jelly 91 The sergeant-major was at his heels,..cracking jokes about his rheumatics till she had him lepping.
1981 S. McAughtry Belfast Stories i. 42 With his rheumatics he wasn't able to bend down to pick the fiver up.
2000 K. Cushman Matilda Bone 157 She stopped to rub her shoulders. ‘The rheumatics,’ she explained... ‘I being attendant on a bonesetter know something of the rheumatics.’
b. In singular with the. Rheumatism. Chiefly English regional.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > ill health > a disease > diseases of tissue > disorders of joints > [noun] > rheumatism or arthritis
arthritis1543
rheum1667
rheumatism1670
rheumatiz1760
rheumatica1796
arthrosia1822
screwmatic1832
rheumatoid arthritis1859
arthritism1868
polyarthritis1868
osteoarthritis1878
panarthritis1890
screw1897
Still's disease1905
rheumatic1918
osteoarthrosis1932
RA1957
1918 V. Woolf Diary 16 July (1977) I. 169 He is a ridiculous figure precisely like the false Mandrill, especially now that he's bent with the rheumatic, & can only creep and crawl.
1963 Recorded Interview (Brit. Libr. Sound Archive) (Survey Eng. Dial.: C908) (MS transcript) Track 53 But I've got the rheumatic now in here and in here and the knee.
Derivatives
rheuˈmatic-ˌlike adj. (of a symptom) resembling that of rheumatism or rheumatic disease.
ΚΠ
1796 E. Darwin Zoonomia II. 461 This idea is countenanced by the frequent change of place of rheumatic-like gouty inflammations.
1843 Amer. Jrnl. Med. Sci. 11 14 Chills or rigors, and rheumatic like aches, in the joints, or wandering about the cavities of the body, also exist.
1903 Med. Rec. 64 612/2 Rheumatic-like swellings of joints were absent in this case.
1998 J. A. Delle Archaeol. Social Space vi. 163 The disease [sc. yaws] is characterized by rheumatic-like bone aches, fungous oozing pustules, and in advanced stages, by destruction of the facial bones.
ΚΠ
1727 N. Bailey Universal Etymol. Eng. Dict. II Rheumatickness, subjectness to be afflicted with a Rheumatism.
1892 J. H. Clark Rheumatism & Sciatica 56 There is a condition which might almost be called ‘rheumaticness’, rather than any definite form of rheumatism.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2010; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
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adj.n.a1398