rheumy

/ˈrumi/

Other forms: rheumily

If something's rheumy, it's moist and watery. Your dog may look spry and healthy, but his gray snout and rheumy eyes give away his age.

This adjective almost always describes the damp eyes of a person or animal. If a character in a book is described as "wizened and stooped, with rheumy eyes," you can be sure they're an elderly person. Someone whose eyes water due to illness can be described this way too: "It was tragic to see all of those coughing children with rheumy eyes." Rheumy comes from rheum, "mucus," and its Greek root rheuma, "that which flows."

Definitions of rheumy

1. adjective

   moist, damp, wet (especially of the eyes)
   synonyms:

   wet

   covered or soaked with a liquid such as water
2. adjective

   of or pertaining to arthritis
   “rheumy with age and grief”

   synonyms: arthritic, creaky, rheumatic, rheumatoid

   unhealthy

   not in or exhibiting good health in body or mind