Emily Dickinson Lexicon

RHEUM-A-TISM, n. [L. rheumatismus; Gr. ῥευματισμος, from ῥευμα, a watery humor, from ῥεω, to flow; the ancients supposing the disease to proceed from a defluxion of humors.]

A painful disease affecting muscles and joints of the human body, chiefly the larger joints, as the hips, knees, shoulders, &c. – Encyc. Parr.