Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A generally viscous, yellowish-white fluid formed in infected tissue, consisting of white blood cells, cellular debris, and necrotic tissue.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun An inflammatory exudation composed of modified white blood-cells (pus-corpuscles), with more or less of the debris and of the proliferating cells of the solid tissues of the part, and a liquid plasma.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun (Med.) The yellowish white opaque creamy matter produced by the process of suppuration. It consists of innumerable white nucleated cells floating in a clear liquid.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A whitish-yellow or yellow substance composed primarily of dead white blood cells and dead
pyogenic bacteria; normally found in regions of bacterialinfection .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun the tenth month of the Hindu calendar
- noun a fluid product of inflammation
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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He began arm-to-arm inoculations by taking pus from the scab of a person and transferring it to another.
Trivia Corner 2010
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Munkey: Would you rather bob for apples in pus, or hit a pinata full of diarrhea?
Summer Holidays #3 lili 2007
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Munkey: Would you rather bob for apples in pus, or hit a pinata full of diarrhea?
Archive 2007-02-01 lili 2007
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He often had to pry his eyes open in the morning with his fingers because they had been sealed shut with pus from the infections.
GULF WAR INDEX 2002
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The old flag of yellow and gold we called pus and blood.
For Whom The Bell Tolls Hemingway, Ernest, 1899-1961 1940
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The old flag of yellow and gold we called pus and blood.
For Whom The Bell Tolls Hemingway, Ernest, 1899-1961 1940
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What we call pus is made up of the bodies of live and dead phagocytes, disease taints and germs, blood serum, broken-down tissues and cells, in short, the debris of the battlefield.
Nature Cure Henry Lindlahr 1893
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It would have been more realistic if the beaver started vomiting blood and its fur was clotted in pus.
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Draining the pus was the only thing that helped, and I got a tetanus shot just because of the immobility.
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Draining the pus was the only thing that helped, and I got a tetanus shot just because of the immobility.
vanishedone commented on the word pus
I have to say, here I like WeirdNet's suggestion better than the meaning I had in mind.
December 1, 2007
uselessness commented on the word pus
I was glancing though the list at right:
Disgusting words
Least favorites
Words I absolutely can NOT stand
Unpleasant words for unpleasant things
Words I don't like very much
...and then...
Really Cool Three-Letter Words, by chained_bear
:-P
December 1, 2007
bilby commented on the word pus
Sup backwards. Useful knowledge for those whose dietary intake is restricted to (body) fluids only.
December 1, 2007
chained_bear commented on the word pus
Hey, don't forget Creative Onomatopoeia! ;)
In my defense, can you think of three *other* letters that elicit that kind of strong reaction from so many people?
December 1, 2007
uselessness commented on the word pus
Hmm, I wonder what the record is for most lists by the same person a single word appears in...?
December 1, 2007
reesetee commented on the word pus
Say! There's a good question! How do we find out?
December 2, 2007
chained_bear commented on the word pus
I don't think I have words on more than three lists, myself. (Could be wrong.) But I don't often see instances in which other users add a word to more than one of their lists.
soo... was that u being snide?! ;)
December 2, 2007
uselessness commented on the word pus
Yes, yes it were.
December 5, 2007
mollusque commented on the word pus
John doesn't give you credit for a second listing if you put a word on more than one of your lists.
December 5, 2007
chained_bear commented on the word pus
That's all right. Wordie *shouldn't* give 'credit' for listing words on different lists. It's just for personal organization purposes, since there's no other reason for relisting words. I just... seem to have a lot of lists that words like 'pus' should, you know, be on... I guess... *starts to wonder*
December 5, 2007
yarb commented on the word pus
And there's pus in the weir; where once a white cumulus froth
of cauliflowers boiled, there's a fetid and curdling slack
of turpentine slick clotting up with each new pollutant
in a piled scum of rainbow blown corrugated and poxed,
while the same goes on in our own intestinal tracts.
- Peter Reading, Removals, from For the Municipality's Elderly, 1974
June 22, 2008
bilby commented on the word pus
Pus, Dan! Ogre sales use laser gonads up.
October 18, 2008