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Eye boogers are primarily a combination of mucus, tears, and skin cells known as rheum and are scientifically termed rheumatic.—Amber Smith, Discover Magazine, 16 Oct. 2022 Amir began wheezing at night — once so badly that an ambulance was called — and woke up most mornings to find his eyes swollen shut with rheum.—Hannah Natanson, Washington Post, 9 July 2018 This washes excess tear fluid that would form into rheum away into your eye’s tear drainage system, Dr. Kathuria explains.—Korin Miller, SELF, 17 Jan. 2018
Word History
Etymology
Middle English reume, from Anglo-French, from Latin rheuma, from Greek, literally, flow, flux, from rhein to flow — more at stream
: a genus of Asian herbs (family Polygonaceae) that have large leaves, small flowers, and a 3-winged fruit and that include the rhubarbs (as the Chinese rhubarb, R. officinale, and rhapontic, R. rhaponticum)
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