proud flesh
[See proud a. 7 d (b).]
Overgrown flesh arising from excessive granulation upon, or around the edges of, a healing wound.
| c 1400 Lanfranc's Cirurg. 78 An hori elde wounde þat haþ summe greete crustis, or ellis..sum gret proud fleisch to hiȝe [Lat. carnem superfluam grossam]. 1597 A. M. tr. Guillemeau's Fr. Chirurg. 50 b/2 Aboue the ordinary fluxions, therin engendreth proude fleshe. 1685 Boyle Enq. Notion Nat. vii. 323 In wounds, proud-flesh, and perhaps funguses, are as well produced and entertained by the aliment brought to the wounded part, as the true and genuine flesh. 1779 Gentl. Mag. XLIX. 80 If fungus, commonly called proud-flesh, should appear, a dressing of dry lint will mostly soon repress it. 1880 M. Mackenzie Dis. Throat & Nose I. 526 The formation of ‘proud flesh’ on the edges of the wound. |
Hence ˈproud-flesh v. trans., to cause a growth of proud flesh upon (in quot. fig.).
| 1876 S. Lanier in Life & Lett. B. Taylor (1884) II. xxviii. 693 The additional forcing of such a tendency..becomes postively hurtful through proudfleshing the artistic conscience. |