suffumigation Now arch. or Hist.
(sʌfjuːmɪˈgeɪʃən)
[ad. L. suffūmigātio, -ōnem, n. of action f. suffūmigāre to suffumigate. Cf. OF. subfumigation, F. suffumigation.]
The action of suffumigating or fumigating from below; an instance of this; chiefly concr. (usually pl.): fumes or vapours generated by burning herbs, incense, etc.; also occas., a substance used for this purpose. a. Med. used to produce a therapeutic effect by penetration of the body.
| 1422 Yonge Secr. Secr. lxiii. 239 Aftyr that man sholde vse suffumygacionys of herbis. a 1425 tr. Arderne's Treat. Fistula etc. 74 Afterward be þer done suffumigacion or fomentacion. 1540 R. Jonas Byrth Mankynde 26 Yf this profet nothynge, then vse this suffumigation. Take myrrhe, galbanum, castorium [etc.]. 1599 A. M. tr. Gabelhouer's Bk. Physicke 65/1 Let the suffumigatione therof ascende to thy Eares. 1601 Holland Pliny II. Expl. Wds. Art, Suffumigation, is the smoke that is received into the body from under a stoole, for the diseases of the guts, fundament, or matrice. 1604 Jas. I Counterbl. to Tobacco (Arb.) 100 The stinking Suffumigation whereof [sc. of tobacco] they yet vse against that disease. 1635 R. Brathwait Arcadian Princ. 235, I meane by sweatings and suffumigations to extract all those viscid and oily humours. 1684 tr. Bonet's Merc. Compit. xiv. 494 A Phthisical Person [cured]..by a Suffumigation of Amber. 1769 E. Bancroft Guiana 87 The Indians..often use it by way of suffumigation, for rheums, head-achs etc. 1835 Browning Paracelsus iii. 442 Such a suffumigation as, once fired, Had stunk the patient dead ere he could groan. |
b. used in incantations, in the offering of sacrifices, and in witchcraft to excite evil spirits.
| 1565 Jewel Repl. Harding (1611) 427 The Sacrifices, that in Old times were made vnto Fides, and Terminus,..consisted only in Suffumigations, and Odors. 1567 Fenton Trag. Disc. iii. (1898) 153 Diverse suffumigacions incident to witchecrafte. 1614 Selden Titles Hon. 9 To these were..giuen diuine worship and ceremonies with suffumigations, crownes of flowers, and other rites. 1646 J. Gregory Notes & Obs. (1650) 97 They observed such a place of the Moone, made such a suffumigation, uttered such and such words at the graffing of one Tree upon another. 1652 Gaule Magastrom. 222 A suffumigation made with the congealed blood of an Asse, and the fat of a wolfe, and Storax. 1696 Aubrey Misc. (1721) 172 Evil Spirits are pleased and allured and called up by Suffumigations of Henbane &c. stinking Smells, &c. 1830 Scott Demonol. i. 46 The nostrils are made to inhale such suffumigation, as well as the mouth. 1856 R. A. Vaughan Mystics (1860) II. viii. iii. 179 note, The sympathetic influence..of stones and metals, ointments and suffumigations. |
† c. gen. A fume, vapour.
Obs.| 1567 J. Maplet Gr. Forest 72 Suffumigation of Brimstone. a 1612 Harington De Valet. Conserv. (1624) 43 Your parlors or Chambers being first purged and ayred with suffumigations. 1614 T. Adams Diuells Banket iii. 109 As the suffumigations of the oppressed stomach, surge vp and cause the head-ach. 1651 H. More Enthus. Tri. (1712) 5 A little reek or suffumigation. |
Hence
† suffumiˈgatious a., used for suffumigation.
| 1688 Holme Armoury ii. vi. 119/3 Suffumigatious Gums, or such as are for Perfumes. |