▪ I. diffuse, a.
(dɪˈfjuːs)
Also 5–6 dyf-, 5–7 de-.
[ad. L. diffūs-us, pa. pple. of diffundĕre: see diffund. Cf. F. diffus, -use (15th c. in Hatz.-Darm.) perh. the immediate source; also It. diffuso.]
I. † 1. Confused, distracted, perplexed; indistinct, vague, obscure, doubtful, uncertain. Obs.
[This sense (as if ‘poured forth in divers contrary directions’), is not recorded in ancient L., but is found in all the Romanic langs.: thus, It. diffuso, defused, confused, scattred (Florio), Sp. difuso, defused, out of order (Minsheu), obs. F. diffuse, dyffuse, harde to be understande (Palsgr.), diffusément, disorderedly (Cotgr.).]
| a 1400 Cov. Myst. (Shaks. Soc.) 93 This matere is dyffuse and obscure. 1413 Pilgr. Sowle (Caxton) v. xiv. (1859) 82 I haue nat translated worde for word..because of some thynges that were diffuse and in some place ouer derk. 1494 Fabyan Chron. 213 Whan he had longe whyle lyen at the siege of a castel..and sawe it was defuse to wynne by strength. Ibid. vii. ccxxviii. 257 The pope gaue such a defuse sentence in this mater y{supt} he lyfte y⊇ stryfe vndetermyned. a 1529 Skelton P. Sparrowe 806 It is dyffuse to fynde The sentence of his mynde. c 1560 Dial. Secretary & Jealousy iii. (Collier), A mater to me doubtfull and diffuse. 1572 J. Bossewell Armorie ii. 55 The hounde..hath mind of diffuse and longe waies: so that if they loose their masters, they goe by furre space of Lands..to theire maisters houses againe. 1584 R. Scot Discov. Witchcr. xv. xlii. 393 Their strange names, their diffuse phrases. 1594 Carew Huarte's Exam. Wits xi. (1596) 159 Men..of..feeble memory..retaine a certaine diffuse notice of things. 1602 ― Cornwall 74 b, The hurling to the Countrey, is more diffuse and confuse, as bound to few of these orders. |
II. 2. a. Spread out in space; spread through or over a wide area; widespread, scattered, dispersed: the reverse of confined or concentrated.
| a 1711 Ken Hymnotheo Poet. Wks. 1721 III. 319 Our Empire o're the Universe diffuse. 1737 Whiston Josephus Hist. iii. x. §7 [The water is] cooler than one would expect in so diffuse a place as this. 1759 Johnson in Boswell's Life note, The pomp of wide margin and diffuse typography. 1831 Brewster Optics xiv. 119 Diffuse masses of nebulous light. 1871 Tyndall Fragm. Sc. (1879) I. v. 131 Floating matter..invisible in diffuse daylight. 1872 Huxley Phys. viii. 188 They are not only diffuse, but they are subjective sensations. |
† b. fig. Having a wide range, extensive. Obs.
| 1643 Milton Divorce To Parl. Eng., Men.. of eminent spirit and breeding, joined with a diffuse and various knowledge of divine and human things. |
c. Bot. ‘Applied to panicles and stems which spread and branch indeterminately, but chiefly horizontally’ (Syd. Soc. Lex. 1883).
| 1775 H. Rose Elem. Bot. 71 A panicle is said to be diffuse when the partial footstalks diverge. 1861 Miss Pratt Flower. Pl. IV. 132 Diffuse Toad-flax. 1870 Hooker Stud. Flora 18 Fumaria officinalis..diffuse. |
d. Path. Applied to diseases which widely affect the body or organ, in contradistinction to those which are circumscribed.
| 1807–26 S. Cooper First Lines Surg. (ed. 5) 57 To some cases..the name of diffuse inflammation in the cellular membrane has been lately applied. 1874 Roosa Dis. Ear (ed. 2) 120 Diffuse inflammation of the external auditory canal. 1877 Erichsen Surg. I. 14 Tendency to erysipelas, Pyæmia, and low and diffuse inflammations generally. |
e. Embryol. Applied to a form of non-deciduate placenta in which the villi are scattered.
| 1888 Rolleston & Jackson Anim. Life 367 The non-deciduate placenta is either diffuse, when the villi are scattered..or cotyledonary, when they are aggregated into patches. |
f. In Forestry, diffuse-porous adj., applied to woods in which the pores are scattered evenly throughout the growth ring.
| 1902 F. Roth First Bk. Forestry iii. 222 The diffuse-porous woods, like maple, yellow poplar, and cherry, where pores are usually very small and evenly scattered through the annual ring. 1928 Forestry II. 65 Under sub-alpine conditions woods which are normally diffuse-porous tend to become ring-porous. 1953 H. L. Edlin Forester's Handbk. ii. 27 In some trees, those with diffuse-porous wood, they [sc. the vessels] are scattered evenly through the tissues. |
3. a. Of a style of writing or speech: Using many words to convey the sense; extended, wordy, verbose: the opposite of concise or condensed.
| 1742 Gray Let. Poems (1775) 146 [This] is no commendation of the English tongue, which is too diffuse, and daily grows more and more enervate. 1783 Pott Chirurg. Wks. II. 194 Some parts of them will appear prolix and diffuse. 1815 Jane Austen Emma i. vii, Too strong and concise, not diffuse enough for a woman. 1842 H. Rogers Introd. Burke's Wks. 47 His style is always full..and in many places even diffuse. 1868 Pref. to Digby's Voy. Medit. 22 Digby, who as a writer is always diffuse, dwells upon the wonder. |
▪ II. diffuse, v.
(dɪˈfjuːz)
Also 6–7 defuse.
[f. L. diffūs-, ppl. stem of diffundĕre to pour out or away: see diffund. Cf. F. diffuser (15th c. in Hatz.-Darm.)]
I. † 1. trans. To pour out as a fluid with wide dispersion of its molecules; to shed. Obs.
| 1598 Florio, Diffondere, to defuse, to shed. 1610 Shakes. Temp. iv. i. 79 Who, with thy saffron wings, vpon my flowres Diffusest hony drops, refreshing showres. 1634 W. Tirwhyt tr. Balzac's Lett. 400 A place whereon Heaven defuseth all its Graces. 1734 tr. Rollin's Anc. Hist. (1827) I. Pref. 4 [This] diffuses great light over the history of those nations. |
2. To pour or send forth as from a centre of dispersion; to spread abroad over a surface, or through a space or region; to spread widely, shed abroad, disperse, disseminate. a. (material things, or physical forces or qualities).
| 1590 Spenser F.Q. ii. ii. 4 The..veneme..Their blood..infected hath, Being diffused through the senceless tronck. 1601 Holland Pliny I. 312 The vitall vertue in them..is..spred and defused throughout the whole body. 1627 May Lucan ix. (1631) 606 Those trees no shadow can diffuse. 1654 Warren Unbelievers 95 The Head diffuseth nerves to the several members. 1669 Gale Crt. Gentiles i. i. v. 27 The Phenicians..began to diffuse themselves throughout the whole of the Midland Sea. 1711 Pope Temp. Fame 308 From pole to pole the winds diffuse the sound. 1752 Johnson Rambler No. 190 ¶6 Diffuse thy riches among thy friends. 1791 Hamilton Berthollet's Dyeing II. ii. iii. ii. 142 Hot water in which cow's dung has been diffused. 1815 Shelley Demon World 227 Ten thousand spheres diffuse Their lustre through its adamantine gates. 1860 Tyndall Glac. ii. vii. 260 The colours of the sky are due to minute particles diffused through the atmosphere. |
b. (immaterial or abstract things).
| 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 31 The charite of God is diffused & spred in our hertes. 1656 Bramhall Replic. vi. 279 The true Catholick Church, diffused over the World. 1689 Shadwell Bury F. ii, His fame is diffus'd throughout the town. 1814 D'Israeli Quarrels Auth. (1867) 363 Diffusing a more general taste for the science of botany. 1839 James Louis XIV, III. 114 A general rumour began to diffuse itself through the court. 1852 Masson Ess. i. (1856) 32 A heartless man does not diffuse geniality and kindness around him, as Goethe did. |
c. fig. The reverse of collect or concentrate: to dissipate.
| 1608–11 Bp. Hall Medit. & Vows i. §79 The one gathers the powers of the soule together..the other diffuses them. 1752 Johnson Rambler No. 190 ¶9 Determined to avoid a close union..and to diffuse himself in a larger circle. 1887 Ruskin Præterita II. 274 He diffused himself in serene scholarship till too late. |
3. To extend or spread out (the body or limbs) freely; in pa. pple., Extended or spread out. arch. and poetic.
| 1671 Milton Samson 118 See how he lies at random, carelessly diffused. 1706 Watts Horæ Lyr. (1779) 284 Beneath your sacred shade diffused we lay. 1806–7 J. Beresford Miseries Hum. Life (1826) ii. xxxiii, After having..diffused yourself on the sopha. 1815 Shelley Alastor 636 His limbs did rest, Diffused and motionless, on the smooth brink Of that obscurest chasm. |
4. intr. (for refl.) To be or become diffused, to spread abroad (lit. and fig.).
| a 1653 [see diffusing below]. 1700 S. Parker Six Philos. Ess. 51 It [the Chimist's Fire] does not merely sustain it self, but propagates too, and diffuses upon the ruins of its neighbours. a 1711 Ken Hymnarium Poet. Wks. 1721 II. 12 Love..Will all diffuse in Extacy. 1785 Eugenius II, 192 In several other parts..the same benevolent spirit and moral improvement are diffusing. 1814 Southey Roderick xxi, The silver cloud diffusing slowly past. |
5. Physics. a. trans. To cause (gases or liquids) to intermingle by diffusion; to disperse by diffusion. b. intr. Said of fluids: To intermingle or interpenetrate each other by diffusion; to pass by diffusion. See diffusion 5.
| a. 1808 Dalton New Syst. Chem. Philos. I. 150 Gases always intermingle and diffuse themselves amongst each other, if exposed ever so carefully. Ibid. 191 When two equal measures of different gases are thus diffused. 1831 T. Graham in L. & E. Phil. Mag. (1833) II. 179 The ascent of the water in the tube, when hydrogen is diffused, forms a striking experiment. 1849 ― in Phil. Trans. (1850) 5 The phial was filled up with the solution to be diffused. |
| b. 1831 Graham in L. & E. Phil. Mag. (1833) II. 189 The air does not diffuse out against so strong a pressure. 1849 ― in Phil. Trans. (1850) 4 The carbonic acid found in the upper bottle, and which had diffused into it from the lower. 1854 Ibid. 178 Water appears to diffuse four times more rapidly than alcohol. 1869 E. A. Parkes Pract. Hygiene (ed. 3) 127 Every gas diffuses at a certain rate. |
II. † 6. trans. To distract, perplex, disorder, render confused or indistinct. Obs. (Cf. diffuse a. 1; and see also diffused 1.)
| 1605 Shakes. Lear i. iv. 2 If but as well [1st Folio will] I other accents borrow, That can my speech defuse. |
Hence diˈffusing ppl. a.
| a 1653 Gouge Comm. Heb. i. 9 The Spirit is as Oyl, of a diffusing nature. 1887 Poor Nellie (1888) 286 She had told her, with diffusing circles of surprise. |