sanguineous, a.
(sæŋˈgwɪnɪəs)
[f. L. sanguine-us (f. sanguin-, sanguis blood) + -ous.]
1. Of or pertaining to blood; of the nature of or containing blood.
| 1646 Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. iii. ix. 127 This part, or animall of Plato, containeth not only sanguineous and reparable particles, but is made up of veynes, nerves, arteries. 1673–4 Grew Anat. Trunks i. ii. §34 As the Sanguineous Vessels in an Animal are composed of a number of Fibres. 1704 Ray Creation ii. 332 To supply the sanguineous Mass with Nitro-ærial Particles. 1808 Barclay Muscular Motions 225 Different organs secrete and assimilate different substances from the sanguineous fluid. 1897 Syd. Soc. Lex., Sanguineous cyst, a cyst containing blood, whether it be primarily a blood-cyst, or one into which hæmorrhage has secondarily occurred. 1899 Allbutt's Syst. Med. VIII. 466 In exceptional cases vesications are produced..whose contents may become sanguineous or puriform. |
† b. Of animals: Having blood. Obs.
| 1646 Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. iii. xvi. 144 Sanguineous corticated animals, as Serpents, Toads, and Lizards. 1664 Power Exp. Philos. i. 59 It is plain that a Louse is a Sanguineous Animal. 1667 Boyle Orig. Formes & Qual. (ed. 2) 323 Perfect and sanguineous animals. |
2. Of the colour of blood.
sanguineous creeper, sanguineous honey-eater, book-names for Certhia sanguinolenta (1811–1826 Shaw and Stephens Gen. Zool. VIII. 232, XIV. 263).
| c 1520 Interl. Beauty & Gd. Prop. Women A j, I know that nature hath gyuyn me bewte with sanguynyous compleccyon fauour & fayrenes. 1686 Goad Celest. Bodies i. xviii. 120 He may give an account also of a Red-angry Sun, Sol Rutilus, in Kepler, which others call Sanguineous. 1819 Keats Lamia ii. 76 His passion, cruel grown, took on a hue Fierce and sanguineous. 1826 Kirby & Sp. Entomol. IV. xlvi. 280 Sanguineous (Sanguineus), red with a tint of black. 1837 Carlyle Fr. Rev. II. iii. i, For swinging of incense-pans and Eighty-three Departmental Banners, we have waving of the one sanguineous Drapeau-Rouge. 1861 H. Hagen Synopsis Neuroptera N. Amer. 59 Wings sanguineous at base. 1882 Garden 20 May 356/3 Large flowers..[of] a very deep sanguineous crimson. |
3. Of or pertaining to bloodshed; giving rise to bloodshed; bloodthirsty, sanguinary. Now rare.
| 1612 R. Sheldon Serm. St. Martin's Ep. Ded. 2 A detestation against all Popish, Ignatian, bloody, and sanguineous attempts. 1642 Hales Schism 11 No occasion hath produced more frequent, more continuous, more sanguineous Schismes, than this hath done. 1663 J. H. Hist. Cromwell v. in Harl. Misc. (1744) I. 275 His other Victories..were very sanguineous, and fatally cruel. 1843 Blackw. Mag. LIV. 244 When a chancellor, more experienced than Rhadamanthus, more sanguineous than Draco, shall have the care of the innocent flock! 1854 Thackeray Newcomes I. 305 Sanguineous histories of queens who sewed their lovers into sacks. |
4. Of persons, their constitution or temperament: = sanguine a. Also, in later use, Full-blooded, plethoric. sanguineous fever (see quot. 1753).
| 1732 Arbuthnot Rules of Diet in Aliments, etc. 287 All things which accelerate the Motion of the Blood are hurtful to sanguineous Constitutions. 1753 Chambers Cycl. Supp., Sanguineous fevers, a term used by the medical writers to express a kind of fever, in which there is always a plethora, or fullness of blood. 1806 Sir C. Bell Anat. Expression vi. (1844) 144 Courage..is witnessed in the pale and fragile, more than in the strong and sanguineous. 1843 R. J. Graves Syst. Clin. Med. xxxi. 421 Edward Fitzgerald, labourer..temperament sanguineous. 1877 F. T. Roberts Handbk. Med. (ed. 3) I. 6 Four principal temperaments are described, the sanguineous, lymphatic, bilious, and nervous. |
b. Of mental temperament: = sanguine a. 4.
| 1847 Disraeli Tancred v. v, Therèse, who was of a less sanguineous temperament than her sister, affected despair. |
Hence sanˈguineousness, in quot., the condition of having a blood-red colour.
| 1865 Sala in Daily Tel. 7 June, The women..are ruddy to sanguineousness. |