superfuse, v.
(s(j)uːpəˈfjuːz)
[f. L. superfūs-, pa. ppl. stem of superfundĕre: see super- 2 and fuse v. In sense 3, a new formation on superfusion 2.]
1. a. trans. To pour over or on something.
| 1657 Tomlinson Renou's Disp. 162* Either a Ptisane or decoction..must be superfused. 1677 Gale Crt. Gentiles iv. ii. viii. §3. II. 449 This Holy Spirit from the beginning of the World is said..to be superfused on the waters. a 1700 Evelyn Diary 13 Dec. 1685, Pouring first a very cold liquor into a glass, and super-fusing on it another. |
b. Med. To subject (tissue) to, or employ (fluid) in, the technique of superfusion. Also, of a liquid, to flow over the surface of (tissue) in a thin layer. Cf. perifuse v.
| 1953 Brit. Jrnl. Pharmacol. & Chemotherapy VIII. 322/1 Two tissues were suspended one above the other and the same fluid was superfused over them both. 1964 Ibid. XXIII. 360 The blood superfused the second tissue and was then returned to the jugular vein by gravity. 1975 Nature 25 Dec. 754/2 The exposed suboesophageal ganglia were superfused with continuously flowing snail Ringer. 1978 Ibid. 29 June 765/2 Each stream of blood superfused a separate collagen strip which was excised from the Achilles tendon of a rabbit. |
2. To sprinkle or affuse; to suffuse in baptism.
| 1657 J. Watts Scribe, Pharisee, etc. iii. 27 A young man of the Hebrews being desperately sick and calling for baptism, in want of water was superfused with sand. a 1834 Coleridge Lit. Rem. (1836) II. 409 ‘Sprinkled’ [with water], or rather affused or superfused. |
3. To cool (a liquid) to a temperature below its melting-point without causing it to solidify; to supercool, overcool, undercool.
| 1902 Encycl. Brit. XXVIII. 568/1 It is generally possible to cool a liquid several degrees below its normal freezing-point without a separation of crystals... A liquid in this state is said to be ‘undercooled’ or ‘superfused’. |
Hence superˈfused ppl. a., subjected to superfusion; superˈfusing ppl. a., that superfuses.
| 1902 [see sense 3 of the vb.]. 1953 Brit. Jrnl. Pharmacol. & Chemotherapy VIII. 322/2 Stoppage of the flow may itself cause contraction of superfused muscle. 1977 Nature 6 Jan. 85/2 Test solutions were assayed..by their effects on isolated, superfused smooth-muscle organs. 1980 Ibid. 3 Jan. 93/1 (caption) Potassium chloride was added..to the superfusing fluid for 2-min periods at intervals of 16 min. |