perspiration
(pɜːspɪˈreɪʃən)
[a. F. perspiration (in Paré 1561), n. of action from perspirer, ad. L. perspīrāre: see perspire.]
The action of perspiring, in various senses.
† 1. Breathing out or through. Obs.
| 1611 Cotgr., Perspiration, a perspiration, or breathing through. 1681 J. Chetham Angler's Vade-m. iii. §16 (1689) 27 It's convenient to bore small holes in it for their better perspiration. 1710 Shaftesbury Charac. iii. Adv. Author i, He wou'd find the Air perhaps more rarefy'd and sutable to the Perspiration requir'd, especially in the case of a Poetical Genius. |
† 2. Evaporation, exhalation. Obs.
| 1652 French Yorksh. Spa vii. 70 This Spaw water is strongest..in Winters frost, by reason of the earth being the more bound up, and the said spirits being thereby kept from perspiration. 1707 Mortimer Husb. (1721) II. 329 Cover'd only with a loose Cover, that there may be a free Perspiration of the Volatile Spirit of your Must. |
3. The excretion of moisture through the pores of the skin (originally applied to the insensible excretion, now also to the sensible); sweating.
| 1626 Bacon Sylva §680 Much of the matter of hair in the other parts of the body [than the head] goeth forth by insensible perspiration. 1656 Blount Glossogr., Perspiration is as it were a breathing or vaporing of the whole body through the skin. 1704 Swift Mech. Operat. Spirit ii. Misc. (1711) 293 These [Caps] when moisten'd with Sweat, stop all Perspiration. 1740 E. Baynard Health (ed. 6) 21 For thro' a constant dilatation, The spirits spend by perspiration. 1804 Abernethy Surg. Obs. 186 His feet put into warm water in hopes of procuring perspiration. 1842 Abdy Water Cure (1843) 159 He returns to his bed, and drives out the enemy by renewed perspiration. |
† b. The exhalation of vapour or moisture through the pores of plants. Obs.
| 1664 Power Exp. Philos. i. 29 That all Vegetables have a constant perspiration, the continual dispersion of their odour makes out. 1674 Grew Veget. Trunks ii. §7 Part of the Sap, remitted, in perspirations, back again into the Aer. 1796 Morse Amer. Geog. I. 673 The perspiration of vegetables of all kinds..fills the air with moisture. |
4. concr. That which is perspired; sweat.
| 1725 N. Robinson Th. Physick 72 It yields an Excrement call'd Perspiration, which is the last Digestion the Blood undergoes. 1759 Ellis in Phil. Trans. LI. 211 Their covering was not thick enough to keep in their perspiration. 1884 F. M. Crawford Rom. Singer I. 21 The next minute the perspiration stands on your forehead. |
5. Comb.
| 1849 E. B. Eastwick Dry Leaves 5 It is no holiday-work climbing that steep, craggy, perspiration-exciting..Pinnacle. 1899 Westm. Gaz. 29 Nov. 2/1 His red-brown perspiration-bathed arms. |