A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue (up to 1700)
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First published 1983 (DOST Vol. V).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
Phlegm(e, n. (e.m.E. phleugme (1565–73), phlegme (a 1592), and fleume etc., mucus, phlegmatic ‘humour’, pl. a collection or mass of phlegm, or of any mucous secretion, mod. F. flegme, L. phlegma clammy humour of the body.) —1581-1623 James VI Poems I. 161/891 (see Phlegmon n.). 1604-9 Grahame Anat. Hum. 31.
When some women … hath … their knotty phlegme and spetting on the walls and floore
