mucous, a.
(ˈmjuːkəs)
[ad. L. mūcōsus, f. mūc-us mucus; see -ous. Cf. F. muqueux, Sp., Pg. mucoso, mocoso, It. mucoso.]
1. Containing, consisting of, or resembling mucus. In early quots. with wider sense: Slimy.
| 1646 Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. iii. xxi. 158 It hath in the tongue a spongy and mucous extremity, whereby..it inviscates..insects. 1774 Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1776) VIII. 194 We shall perceive its whole surface..covered with a mucous fluid. 1851 Woodward Mollusca i. 50 The eggs..of the fresh-water species are soft, mucous, and transparent. 1871 T. R. Jones Anim. Kingd. §2290 (ed. 4) 834 The lingual mucous lining seems to be perfectly adapted to gustation. 1878 Tidy Handbk. Mod. Chem. 485 The Mucous or Viscous Fermentation, i.e. a fermentation characterized by the formation of gummy matters. |
2. Characterized by the presence of mucus. Also, in Auscultation,
mucous râle, a sound indicating a mucous condition of the lung.
| 1825 Good Study Med. (ed. 2) III. 381 Mucous piles. 1834 J. Forbes Laennec's Dis. Chest (ed. 4) 91 A chronic mucous catarrh. 1897 Trans. Amer. Pediatric Soc. IX. 170 Large number of coarse mucous râles made the first probable. |
3. Bot. Covered with a viscous secretion or with a coat readily soluble in water.
| 1839 Lindley Introd. Bot. iii. Gloss. (ed. 3) 471 Mucous or slimy; covered with a slimy secretion. 1870 Hooker Stud. Flora 350 Stratiotes aloides... Seeds with a mucous coat. 1882–4 Cooke Brit. Fresh-w. Algæ I. 179 Hormiscia zonata..More or less bright green, mucous. |
4. Special collocations.
mucous canal Ichthyology, one of the canals by which mucus is excreted along the lateral line.
mucous corpuscle, one of numerous transparent corpuscles, with a cell-wall, a nucleus, and a number of minute moving molecules in the mucous liquid of the mouth.
mucous exudation, the exudation of mucus mixed with inflammatory matter, from the surface of an inflamed mucous membrane.
mucous gland, any gland connected with a mucous surface.
mucous layer = mesoblast.
mucous ligament, a ligament traversing the synovial cavity of the knee.
mucous membrane, the internal prolongation of the skin, having the surface covered with mucus.
mucous tissue, gelatinous connective tissue.
| 1875 Huxley in Encycl. Brit. I. 762/1 Symmetrically disposed grooves, the so-called ‘*mucous canals’. |
| 1856 Griffith & Henfrey Microgr. Dict. 443 *Mucous corpuscles. |
| 1876 tr. Wagner's Gen. Pathol. 257 *Mucous exudation is sometimes not to be distinguished from normal mucus. |
| 1727–41 Chambers Cycl. s.v., The third *mucous gland. 1872 T. Bryant Pract. Surg. (1876) I. 492 The Mucous Glands of the Lip. |
| 1846 Carpenter Princ. Hum. Physiol. (ed. 3) Index, *Mucous layer of germinal membrane. |
| 1891 Syd. Soc. Lex. s.v., *Mucous ligament of knee. |
| 1812 J. Jackson in Trans. Amer. Pediatric Soc. (1897) IX. 12 The *mucous membrane of the stomach. 1881 Mivart Cat 21 Inside the lips and mouth it becomes soft and moist, and is termed mucous membrane. |
| 1845 Encycl. Metrop. VII. 217 The term ‘*mucous tissue or mucous membrane’, commonly applied by anatomists to the internal lining of all the canals and cavities. 1882 Quain's Anat. (ed. 9) II. 69 Connective tissue of this nature is known as jellylike or mucous tissue. |
Hence
† ˈmucousness = mucosity.
| 1727 Bailey vol. II, Mucousness, snottiness. 1755 Johnson, Mucousness,..slime; viscosity. |