defluxion
(dɪˈflʌkʃən)
Also 7–9 defluction.
[a. F. défluxion (16th c., Calvin, Paré), or ad. L. dēfluxiōn-em, n. of action from L. dēfluĕre to flow down, also, to fall off (as hair).]
† 1. A flowing or running down. Obs.
| 1549 Compl. Scot. Prol. 14 The defluxione of blude hed payntit ande cullourt all the feildis. 1616 Hayward Sanct. Troub. Soul i. ii. (1620) 38 The emptying of an Houre-glasse consisteth, not onely in the falling of the last graine of sand, but in the whole defluxion thereof from the beginning. 1677 Hale Prim. Orig. Man. iv. viii. 370 By the defluxion of Waters. 1832 Blackw. Mag. XXXII. 644 It would be a needless defluxion of time to relate what took place. |
† b. A falling off (of hair). Obs. rare.
| 1658 Rowland Moufet's Theat. Ins. 945 They cure..defluxion of hair, and the thinnesse thereof however contracted. |
2. Path. a. A supposed flow of ‘humours’ to a particular part of the body, in certain diseases. b. The flow or discharge accompanying a cold or inflammation; a running at the nose or eyes; catarrh. Now rare, Obs., or dial.
| 1576 Lyte Dodoens v. xx. 576 [It] stoppeth all defluxions and falling downe of humours. 1586 Sir A. Paulet in Ellis Orig. Lett. i. III. No. 220. 7 Whome we found in her bed troubled..with a defluxion which was fallen into the syde of her neck. 1626 Bacon Sylva (1651) 11 So doth Cold likewise cause Rheumes, and Defluxions from the Head. 1666 Lond. Gaz. No. 65/2 Monsieur Colbert is fallen very ill of a defluction upon his throat. 1744 Franklin Pennsylv. Fire-Places Wks. (1887) I. 496 Women..get colds..and defluctions, which fall into their jaws and gums. 1781 Gibbon Decl. & F. II. xli. 517 A defluxion had fallen on his eyes. 1842 Abdy Water Cure (1843) 221 A scorbutic ulcer in the leg..attended with a great defluction on the part. 1860 Motley Netherl. (1868) I. vii. 455 Owing to a bad cold with a defluxion in the eyes, she was unable at once to read. |
† 3. concr. Something that flows or runs down.
| 1615 Crooke Body of Man 277 The Nature of Seede no man that I know hath yet essentially defined..Plato [calleth it] The defluxion of the spinall marrow. 1633 T. Adams Exp. 2 Pet. iii. 18 (1865) 884 We know..that he can..pour down putrid defluxions from above. |
† b. fig. An effluence, emanation. [tr. Gr. ἀπορροή.] Obs.
| 1603 Holland Plutarch's Mor. 1307 The defluxion of Osiris, and the very apparent image of him. 1678 Cudworth Intell. Syst. 15 According to Empedocles, Vision and other Sensations were made by ἀποῤῥοαὶ σχηµάτων, the Defluxions of Figures, or Effluvia of Atoms. |