lymph
/lɪmf
/noun [mass noun]
1 Physiology A colourless fluid containing white blood cells, which bathes the tissues and drains through the lymphatic system into the bloodstream.This includes cell salts, fatty tissue, lymph, red and white blood cells, two glands of the endocrine system and even the bones....
- The lymphatic system is a network of very fine vessels or tubes called lymphatics that drain lymph from all over the body.
- This injection also identifies the lymphatic basins, nodal areas, and respective lymph draining sites that are considered to be at risk for metastases.
1.1Fluid exuding from a sore or inflamed tissue.He did not know the specific infective agent but was certain that a treatment would soon be available in the form of a ‘vaccine of Pasteur or lymph of Koch.’...
- Legs become scaly, swollen, and exude lymph fluid.
- In 1798, the British physician Edward Jenner used a milkmaid's lymph containing cowpox virus to vaccinate a child.
2 literary Pure water.I refreshed myself in the mid-day heat by drinking its pure lymph from the hollow of my hand, and gazed with long and insatiable delight upon the memorable fountain.
Origin
Late 16th century (in sense 2): from French lymphe or Latin lympha, limpa 'water'.