tincture
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈtɪŋ(k)tʃə/
ipa: /ˈtɪŋktjʊə/
ipa: /ˈtɪŋ(k)t͡ʃɚ/
rhymes: -ɪŋktʃə(ɹ)
Forms: form: tinctures
form: tincturing
form: tinctured
form: tinctured
Etymology: The noun is derived from Late Middle English tincture (“a dye, pigment; a colour, hue, tint; process of colouring or dyeing; medicinal ointment or salve (perhaps one discolouring the skin); use of a medicinal tincture; (alchemy) transmutation of base metals into gold; ability to cause such transmutation; substance supposed to cause such transmutation”) [and other forms], borrowed from Latin tīnctūra (“act of dyeing”) + Middle English -ure (suffix indicating an action or a process and the means or result of that action or process). Tīnctūra is derived from tīnctus (“coloured, tinged; dipped in; impregnated with; treated”) + -tūra (suffix forming action nouns expressing activities or results); while tīnctus is the perfect passive participle of tingō (“to colour, dye, tinge; to dip (in), immerse; to impregnate (with); to moisten, wet; to smear”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *teng- (“to dip; to soak”). Doublet of tainture, teinture, and tinctura.
The verb is derived from the noun.
Senses: examples: text: [T]hey are rich habilimented, their heads rounded vvith a golden caule: their cheekes tinctured vvith Vermillion, their noſes and eares hung vvith Ievvels of price and bigneſſe, and about their faces (tied to the chin) a rope of orient pearle of exceeding value, if not counterfeit: […]
ref: 1634, T[homas] H[erbert], “A Discourse of the Life and Habit of the Persians at this Present”, in A Relation of Some Yeares Trauaile, Begunne Anno 1626. into Afrique and the Greater Asia, […], London: […] William Stansby, and Jacob Bloome, →OCLC, page 147:
text: [T]his very River Nilus that runs novv into the Mediterranean is the River that vvill run tinctured with bloud three hundred years hence, though the vvater is not the ſame novv and then nor of the ſame Quality: […]
ref: 1664, H[enry] More, chapter XV, in Synopsis Prophetica; or, The Second Part of the Modest Enquiry into the Mystery of Iniquity: […], London: […] James Flesher, for William Morden […], →OCLC, book I, page 310:
text: The VVater of theſe is like to that of Baden in Auſtria; it leaves a vvhite Sediment upon the Moſs and places it vvaſheth, and tinctureth metals black: […]
ref: 1670 June 2 (Gregorian calendar), Edward Brown [i.e., Edward Browne], “An Accompt Given by Doctor Edward Brown, Concerning the Copper-mine at Herrn-ground in Hungary”, in Philosophical Transactions: Giving Some Accompt of the Present Undertakings, Studies and Labours of the Ingenious in Many Considerable Parts of the World, volume V, number 59, London: […] John Martyn […]; printer to the Royal Society, →OCLC, pages 1046–1047:
text: And a fair carpet, woven of home-spun wool, / But tinctured daintily with florid hues, / For seemliness and warmth, on festive days, / Covered the smooth blue slabs of mountain stone / With which the parlour-floor, in simplest guise / Of pastoral home-steads, had been long inlaid.
ref: c. 1806–1809 (date written), William Wordsworth, “Book the Seventh. The Churchyard among the Mountains Continued.”, in The Excursion, being a Portion of The Recluse, a Poem, London: […] Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, […], published 1814, →OCLC, pages 317–318:
glosses: To colour or stain (something) with, or as if with, a dye or pigment.
raw_tags: in past participle form
examples: text: Of fulgent beautie; but ſo pure a mind, / As if tinctur'd from Heaven, and ſo devin'd.
ref: 1634 (first performance), Thomas Heywood, “Her Majestie Inviting the King to Denmarke house, in the Strand, upon His Birth-day, being November the 19. This Play (Bearing from that time) the Title of the Queens Masque, was Againe Presented before Him: Cupid Speaking the Prologue.”, in Loves Maistresse: Or, The Queens Masque. […], London: […] Robert Raworth, for Iohn Crowch; and are to bee sold by Iasper Emery, […], published 1636, →OCLC:
text: Chriſt dravveth my VVill into himſelf, and cloateth it vvith his Blood and Death, and tictureth it vvith the higheſt Tincture of the Divine Povver: Thus it is changed into an Angelical Image, and getteth a Divine Life.
ref: 1653, Jacob Behmen [i.e., Jakob Böhme], “A Theosophick Epistle, or Letter, wherein the Life of a True Christian is Described: […]”, in [anonymous], transl., A Consideration upon the Book of Esaias Stiefel of the Threefold State of Man, and His New Birth. […], London: […] John Macock, →OCLC, paragraph 34, page 129:
text: The remainder, […] thus retreats, that is, by the continual appulſe of the Sap, is in part carried off into the Cortical Body back again, the Sap vvhereof it novv tinctures into good Aliment: […]
ref: 1671 December 17 (Gregorian calendar; indicated as 1672), Nehemiah Grew, “Of the Root”, in The Anatomy of Vegetables Begun. […], London: […] Spencer Hickman, printer to the R[oyal] Society, […], →OCLC, page 53:
text: VVhile in the mean time there iſſued out on the Eaſt-ſide a ſtrong VVind, but pure and refreſhing, vvhich dividing into ſeveral parts that turned round became ſo many innocuous VVhirl-vvinds of ſincere Air, tinctured only vvith a cool refreſhing ſmell, as if it had paſſed over ſome large field of Lilies and Roſes.
ref: 1713, Franciscus Euistor the Palæopolite [pseudonym; Henry More], “The Fifth Dialogue”, in Divine Dialogues, Containing Sundry Disquisitions & Instructions Concerning the Attributes of God and His Providence in the World. […], 2nd edition, London: […] Joseph Downing […], →OCLC, paragraph XXXVIII, page 515:
text: The paſſions of fear and hope may ariſe vvhen the chances are equal on both ſides, and no ſuperiority can be diſcover'd in the one above the other. Nay, in this ſituation the paſſions are rather the ſtrongeſt, as the mind has then the leaſt foundation to reſt upon, and is toſs'd vvith the greateſt uncertainty. Throvv in a ſuperior degree of probability to the ſide of grief, you immediately ſee that paſſion diffuſe itſelf over the compoſition, and tincture it into fear.
ref: 1739, [David Hume], “Of the Direct Passions”, in A Treatise of Human Nature: […], book II (Of the Passions), London: […] John Noon, […], →OCLC, part III (Of the Will and Direct Passions), page 299:
text: And first he drew a line upon the walls of shining heaven, / And Enitharmon tinctured it with beams of blushing love.
ref: 1797–1807 (date written), William Blake, “Vala [Vala, or The Four Zoas]. Night the Seventh.”, in Edwin John Ellis and William Butler Yeats, editors, The Works of William Blake: Poetic, Symbolic, and Critical […], volume III, London: Bernard Quaritch, […], published 17 January 1893, →OCLC, page 81:
text: Now observe my dear Sir I dont for a moment push my little but honest Religious faith upon poor [John] Keats—except as far as my feelings go—but these I try to keep from him— I fall into his views sometimes to quiet him and tincture them with a somewhat of mine— […]
ref: 1820 December 24, Joseph Severn, “[Number] 85: Joseph Severn to John Taylor”, in Hyder Edward Rollins, editor, The Keats Circle: Letters and Papers 1816–1878, volume I, Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, published 1948, →OCLC, page 181:
text: Thou tincturest bright Hebe's lonely walks, / Art with her as inspir'd with dread, she stalks / With pleasing dread, the sylvan maze, where dwell / Oft lowering gipsies of the wizard spell; […]
ref: 1828, William Crawford, “The Fanciad”, in The Fates of Alceus; or, Love’s Knight Errant: An Amatory Poem, […], Paisley, Renfrewshire: […] J. Taylor, →OCLC, page 121:
text: Oh, beauteous little pigeon, / Say whither art thou flying? / And whence hast gained the perfume / That from thy wings diffusing / Tincturest the air thou breathest?
ref: 1863 May, T. I., “Catallus. Part I.”, in Dublin University Magazine, a Literary and Political Journal, volume LXI, number CCCLXV, Dublin: George Herbert, […]; London: Hurst & Blackett, →OCLC, page 552, column 2:
text: As it is, one must turn to some authority not liable to the charge of being tinctured with the Biblical element.
ref: 1888–1891, Herman Melville, “[Billy Budd, Foretopman.] Chapter X.”, in Billy Budd and Other Stories, London: John Lehmann, published 1951, →OCLC, page 254:
text: Nor, I imagine, can librarians be great readers. They have too many books, most of them burdensome. The crowded shelves give off an inviting, consoling, seductive odor that is also tinctured faintly with something pernicious, with poison and doom.
ref: 1982, Saul Bellow, “Him with His Foot in His Mouth”, in Him with His Foot in His Mouth and Other Stories, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Row, published 1984, →ISBN, page 11:
glosses: Followed by with: to add to or impregnate (something) with (a slight amount of) an abstract or (obsolete) physical quality; to imbue, to taint, to tinge.
raw_tags: in past participle form
examples: text: Fill a glass jar full of plant matter, leaving an inch of space. (I prefer to tincture each herb separately and mix combinations as I need them.) Completely cover plants with 100-proof vodka, brandy, or vinegar and secure the lid tightly.
ref: 2011, Deb Soule, “Creating a Herbal Apothecary”, in The Woman’s Handbook of Herbal Healing: A Guide to Natural Remedies, New York, N.Y.: Skyhorse Publishing, →ISBN:
qualifier: pharmacy
glosses: To dissolve (a substance) in ethanol or some other solvent to produce a medicinal tincture.
examples: text: The portrait of the Author, prefixed, is engraved from a drawing by another of his friends, done from memory; it is like, but a likeneſs that tinctures of the prejudice of friendſhip.
ref: 1787, Geoffrey Gambado [pseudonym; Henry William Bunbury], “The Editor to the Reader”, in An Academy for Grown Horsemen; […], 2nd edition, London: […] Hooper and Wigstead, […], published 1796, →OCLC, page xviii:
text: Which one of the carefully chosen assessors, one white, one sufficiently tinctured to pass as black, was it who was speaking—both sat, either side of the judge, silent henchmen.
ref: 1998, Nadine Gordimer, The House Gun, New York, N.Y.: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, →ISBN, page 212:
glosses: To have a taint or tinge of some quality.
Derived terms: word: tincturation
word: tinctured
word: tincturing
word: untinctured