serum

• POS: Noun
• HYPHEN: se=rum

CIDE DICTIONARY

serum, n. [L., akin to Gr. , Skr. sāra curd.].

 The watery portion of certain animal fluids, as blood, milk, etc.  [1913 Webster]

Blood serum, the pale yellowish fluid which exudes from the clot formed in the coagulation of the blood; the liquid portion of the blood, after removal of the blood corpuscles and the fibrin. -- Muscle serum, the thin watery fluid which separates from the muscles after coagulation of the muscle plasma; the watery portion of the plasma. See Muscle plasma, under Plasma. -- Serum albumin (Physiol. Chem.), an albuminous body, closely related to egg albumin, present in nearly all serous fluids; esp., the albumin of blood serum. -- Serum globulin (Physiol. Chem.), paraglobulin. -- Serum of milk (Physiol. Chem.), the whey, or fluid portion of milk, remaining after removal of the casein and fat.

OXFORD DICTIONARY

serum, n. (pl. sera or serums)
1 a an amber-coloured liquid that separates from a clot when blood coagulates. b whey.
2 Med. blood serum (usu. from a non-human mammal) as an antitoxin or therapeutic agent, esp. in inoculation.
3 a watery fluid in animal bodies.

Idiom

serum sickness a reaction to an injection of serum, characterized by skin eruption, fever, etc.

Etymology

L, = whey

THESAURUS

serum

Rh factor, Rh-negative, Rh-positive, Rh-type, Rhesus factor, agglutinin, allergen, anaphylactin, antiantibody, antibody, antigen, antiserum, antitoxic serum, antitoxin, antivenin, arterial blood, arterial transfusion, blood, blood bank, blood cell, blood count, blood donor, blood donor center, blood group, blood grouping, blood picture, blood platelet, blood pressure, blood serum, blood substitute, blood transfusion, bloodmobile, bloodstream, chyle, circulation, clinical dextran, colostrum, dextran, direct transfusion, discharge, drip transfusion, erythrocyte, exchange transfusion, exsanguination transfusion, exsanguino transfusion, gleet, globulin, gore, grume, hematics, hematologist, hematology, hematoscope, hematoscopy, hemocyte, hemoglobin, hemometer, humor, ichor, incomplete antibody, interferon, isoantibody, lachryma, lactation, leukocyte, leukorrhea, lifeblood, lymph, matter, milk, mucor, mucus, neutrophil, opsonin, peccant humor, perfusion, phagocyte, phlegm, plasma, plasma substitute, plasma transfusion, precipitin, purulence, pus, reciprocal transfusion, red corpuscle, replacement transfusion, rheum, saliva, sanies, serous fluid, serum transfusion, snot, suppuration, sweat, tear, teardrop, the whites, transfusion, type O, urine, venous blood, venous transfusion, white corpuscle

ROGET THESAURUS

serum

Fluidity

N fluidity, liquidity, liquidness, gaseity, fluid, inelastic fluid, liquid, liquor, lymph, humor, juice, sap, serum, blood, serosity, gravy, rheum, ichor, sanies, chyle, solubility, solubleness, hydrology, hydrostatics, hydrodynamics, liquid, fluid, serous, juicy, succulent, sappy, ichorous, fluent, liquefied, uncongealed, soluble.

Water

N water, serum, serosity, lymph, rheum, diluent, agua, aqua, pani, dilution, maceration, lotion, washing, immersion, humectation, infiltration, spargefaction, affusion, irrigation, douche, balneation, bath, deluge, high water, flood tide, watery, aqueous, aquatic, hydrous, lymphatic, balneal, diluent, drenching, diluted, weak, wet, the waters are out.