putrescent, a.
(pjuːˈtrɛsənt)
[ad. L. putrēscent-em, pr. pple. of putrēsc-ĕre to grow rotten, inceptive of putrēre to be rotten. Cf. F. putrescent (16th c. in Godef.).]
1. Becoming putrid; in process of putrefaction.
| 1732 Arbuthnot Rules of Diet in Aliments 257 The State of a putrescent Alkali. 1818–20 E. Thompson Cullen's Nosol. Method. (ed. 3) 240 Scorbutus. In cold countries occurring after living on putrescent, salted animal food. 1834 Brit. Husb. I. 225 Putrescent manures..all animal and vegetable substances which can be reduced through decomposition, fermentation, and putrefaction, into such a state as will render them fit to assist the melioration of the land. 1881 Tyndall Floating Matter Air 67 Bacteria were numerous in the exposed tubes, and soon afterwards all three of them became thickly muddy and putrescent. |
2. Of, pertaining to, or accompanying putrescence.
| 1775 Sir E. Barry Obs. Wines Ancients 10 Stronger Wines are more apt to degenerate..into a vapid, ropy, and at length a putrescent state. 1849–52 Todd's Cycl. Anat. IV. 862/1 We find game, in a putrescent state, eaten as a luxury. |
| fig. 1876 Blackie Songs Relig. & Life 40 He saw God's features, in the dim putrescent light Of his own sick imaginings. |