▪ I. gleet, n.
(gliːt)
Forms: 4 glette, 4–5 (9 Sc.) glet, (4 glat), 5 glett, 6 glit(te, (7 glyte), 9 Sc. glit(t, 7– gleet. Cf. glut n.4
[a. OF. glette slime, filth, purulent matter, ‘frothe of an egge’, ‘gelly of any thyng that congeleth’ (Palsgr.); mod.F. glette litharge, whence app. G. glätte, Du. glit, Sw. glitte. The development of the English forms is obscure; with its present form and meaning the word first becomes common in the 18th c.]
1. Slimy matter; sticky or greasy filth. Also fig. Obs. exc. Sc.
| 1340 Hampole Pr. Consc. 459 Thar [in the womb] duellid man in a myrk dungeon..Whar he had na other fode Bot wlatsom glet, and loper blode, And stynk and fylthe. 13.. E.E. Allit. P. A. 1059 Þat foysoun flode..swange þurȝ vch a strete, With-outen fylþe oþer galle oþer glet. Ibid. C. 269 He [Jonah] glydez in by þe giles, þurȝ glaymande [? read glaym and] glette. a 1400–50 Alexander 4516 Þus ilk cantell of ȝour cors ȝe call þam driȝtins..Of ilk gobet of þat glett ȝe a god make. 1483 Cath. Angl. 158/2 Glett, viscositas. 1824 Mactaggart Gallovid. Encycl., Glitt, oily matter, which makes the stones of brooks slippery in summer. 1856 Aird Poet. Wks. 123 The stream is almost shrunk Down to the green gleet of its slippery stones. 1894 Crockett Raiders (ed. 3) 100 The night dew had left a sticky ‘glet’ on the face and hands. |
2. Phlegm collected in the stomach, esp. of a hawk. (So OF. glette.) Obs. exc. Sc.
| a 1340 Hampole Psalter, Cant. 512 Haly mennys affecciouns ere as of hertis [L. quasi cervorum] þat..kastis out of þaire hert all glet [in Wyclif's Sel. Wks. III. 32 al vile glat (v.r. glet) þat stoppiþ her breeþ]. 1486 Bk. St. Albans C v b, If she [a hawk] holde not her mete bot cast it that is tokyn of the foule glet. 1575 Turberv. Faulconrie Commend. Hawking, By cunning skill to cause hir cast such glit, as breedes hir skath. 1688 R. Holme Armoury ii. 239/1 Glyte or Glut is a slimy substance in the Pannel or Belly of the Hawk. 1808–80 Jamieson, Glit, tough phlegm, that especially which gathers in the stomach when it is foul. |
3. A morbid discharge of thin liquid from a wound, ulcer, etc. Now rare.
| 1535 Stewart Cron. Scot. I. 444 The oftar ay that plastrit be the wound, With greedie glit far mair it dois abound. 1699 Phil. Trans. XXI. 154, I found the applications on the Wound very wet with a serous Humor, commonly called a Gleet. 1706 Phillips (ed. Kersey), Glitt or Gleet, a thin matter issuing out of Wounds and Ulcers; especially when the nervous or sinewy Parts are bruis'd and hurt. 1713 R. Russell in Phil. Trans. XXVIII. 276 But upon having a Discharge from..her Breast, of a thin Gleet, all Symptoms vanished. 1767 Gooch Treat. Wounds I. 320 A discharge of a fetid gleet from the membranes or brain. 1836 Penny Cycl. V. 261 Some strange..stories have been told of gleet from the nose, giddiness, and inflammation of the brain having been produced by them [bots in sheep]. 1855 Singleton Virgil I. 176 When The fiery fever..Hath shrivelled up their wretched limbs, again O'erflowed a liquid gleet. |
b. spec. A morbid discharge from the urethra.
| 1718 Quincy Compl Disp. 125 Old Gleets, that proceed more from Debility than any Malignity. 1813 J. Thomson Lect. Inflam. 425, I imagine..that the internal surface of a fistulous ulcer is in some degree similar to the inner surface of the urethra, when it is forming the discharge commonly called a gleet. 1878 T. Bryant Pract. Surg. (1879) II. 171 Gleet may be the result of some stricture or local urethral disease, such as an ulcer. |
▪ II. gleet, v.
Also 6 glyt, 7 gleat.
[f. prec. n.]
† 1. intr. Of a morbid discharge, also of water: To ooze, flow slowly. Obs.
| 1527 [see gleeting]. 1612 Woodall Surg. Mate Wks. (1653) 54 Very good to cure wounds in joynts, where the joynt-water gleeteth out. 1687 Phil. Trans. XVI. 471 The Water presently precipitates, gleeting down by the Crannies of the Stone. 1697 Ibid. XIX. 584 The Cavities of the Rocks are filled up with the Rills that gleet from the Hills. 1725 Huxham Ibid. XXXIII. 389 The Desquammation was very slow, the black Crust adhering several Days, nay Weeks..while abundance of purulent Matter gleeted from under them. |
2. Of the body or its parts: To discharge a thin purulent matter. Also quasi-trans.
| 1676 Wiseman Surg. i. xi. 57 His Thumb being inflamed..I made Incision into it to the Bone: this not onely bled, but gleeted a few drops. 1705 Oliver in Phil. Trans. XXV. 2180 It made his Nose run and gleet. 1753 J. Bartlet Gentl. Farriery viii. 74 He [a horse] gleets often at the nose. 1785 Pott Chirurg. Wks. II. 510 A prodigious fungus, which..gleeted largely, and at times bled profusely. 1812 Examiner 4 May 287/1 Making the sleeper's nose run and gleet. |
Hence ˈgleeting vbl. n. and ppl. a.
| 1527 Andrew Brunswyke's Distyll. Waters Q j b, The same water with cotton warme layd in the woundes stoppeth the glyttynge water betwene the joyntes. 1677 Plot Oxfordsh. 60 Used by Chirurgians to dry gleeting sores. 1684 tr. Bonet's Merc. Compit. i. 5 This gleeting or dripping continues so long as till the hole in the coat be cured. 1741 Compl. Fam.-Piece iii. 440 Running at the Eyes, and gleeting at the Nostrils, are Signs of a Cold. |