suffusion
(səˈfjuːʒən)
Also 7 -tion.
[ad. L. suffūsio, -ōnem, n. of action f. suffūs- (see suffuse). Cf. F. suffusion, It. suffusione, etc.]
1. The defluxion or extravasation of a fluid or ‘humour’ over a part of the body; † concr. the fluid itself; spec. in Old Med., cataract.
| 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xvii. xli. (Bodl. MS.) An oynemente þat..helpeþ aȝens suffusion of yȝen. 1575 Turberv. Faulconrie 235 Ther is a cataract which doth light upon the eyes of a hawke whome we may tearme a suffusion. 1608 Topsell Serpents 209 The braine [sc. of lizards] is profitable for suffusions. 1667 Milton P.L. iii. 26 So thick a drop serene hath quencht thir Orbs, Or dim suffusion veild. 1674 W. Bates Harmony Div. Attrib. vii. 140 As the Eye that is clouded with a Suffusion, so that all things appear yellow to it. 1688 Boyle Vit. Sight 251, I have observed them [sc. flyes in the eye] to continue many years without being more than a bastard suffusion, as Physicians speake. 1726 Dict. Rust. (ed. 3), Suffusion of the Eye, in a Horse, is a Sort of Pin and Web. 1728 Chambers' Cycl. s.v., The Jaundice is a Suffusion of Bile over the whole Body. 1748 V. Renatus Dis. Horses 70 A Suffusion or Defluxion in their Feet. 1859 Mayne Expos. Lex. s.v., A suffusion, or extravasation of some humour, as of blood in the eye. |
2. The action of suffusing a surface with fluid, moisture, or colour; the condition of being suffused or overspread. Also, an instance of this.
| 1611 Cotgr., Suffusion, a suffusion, or powring vpon; a spreading abroad. 1642 H. More Song of Soul iii. iii. 49 Miry clods of this accursed earth; Whose dull suffusions make her often sown. 1789 E. Darwin Bot. Gard. ii. (1791) 65 In dim suffusion lies The glance divine, that lighten'd in their eyes. 1813 Scott Trierm. iii. xxx, The golden glow..O'er which in slight suffusion flows A frequent tinge of paly rose. 1843 R. J. Graves Syst. Clin. Med. xi. 127 He had..a furious aspect, suffusion of the eyes..and perfect sleeplessness. 1872 Darwin Emotions viii. 218 The suffusion of the eyes with tears. |
| fig. 1676 Cudworth Intell. Syst. i. iv. 224 Because he..being deeply tinctured, as it were, with the Suffusions of it [sc. a doctrine], every thing which he look'd upon, seem'd to him coloured with it. 1792 A. Young Trav. France I. 251 There is in this painting such a suffusion of grace, and such a blaze of beauty [etc.]. 1852 Ld. Cockburn Life Jeffrey I. 91 A clear sweet voice, and a general suffusion of elegance. |
3. A colouring or tint spread over a surface,
esp. over the skin by the action of the blood, etc.;
freq. a flush of colour in the face, a blush.
| 1700 Dryden Ovid's Met. xv. 287 The Disk of Phœbus when he climbs on high, Appears at first but as a bloodshot Eye; And when his Chariot downward drives to Bed, His Ball is with the same Suffusion red. 1712 Steele Spect. No. 390 ¶1 Would she not be much more modest without that ambiguous Suffusion? 1745 Akenside Odes, Agst. Suspicion ii, Already in your eyes I see a pale suffusion rise. 1763 Phil. Trans. LIII. 232 He..had a yellow suffusion over his skin. 1777 G. Forster Voy. round World I. 102 A beautiful suffusion of purple. 1818 Scott Br. Lamm. ix, The deadly paleness..gave place to a deep and rosy suffusion. 1843 R. J. Graves Syst. Clin. Med. viii. 93 The tunica adnata was of a pearl-white colour, without the slightest suffusion. |