▪ I. tincture, n.
(ˈtɪŋktjʊə(r), -tʃə(r))
[ad. L. tinctūra a dyeing, tinging, f. tinct-, ppl. stem of tingĕre to dye: see -ure.]
† 1. A colouring matter, dye, pigment; spec. a dye used as a cosmetic. Obs.
| c 1400 Lanfranc's Cirurg. 180 If a man desiriþ for to haue blac heeris.., þanne make þis tincture. 1606 Warner Alb. Eng. xvi. ci. 401 Tinctures, Tiers, Maske, Fardingale, and Fan. 1613 Purchas Pilgrimage (1614) 646 Some of them..rubbed his skin, to see whether his whitenesse were naturall,..perceiuing it to be no tincture, they were out of measure astonished. 1692 Dryden Juvenal Ded. (1697) 36 When the Wooll has taken the whole Tincture, and drunk in as much of the Dye as it can receive. 1717 Lady M. W. Montagu Let. to C'tess Mar 1 Apr., The Greeks and Turks have a custom of putting round their eyes..a black tincture, that..adds very much to the blackness of them. 1825 J. Nicholson Operat. Mechanic 730 Extract, by infusion, the tincture of the colouring substances. |
2. a. Hue, colour: esp. as communicated (naturally or artificially) by a colouring matter or dye, or by something that stains; a tinge, tint. Now rare.
| 1477 Norton Ord. Alch. Proem in Ashm. Theat. Chem. Brit. (1652) 7 All such Men as give Tincture to Glasse. 1555 Eden Decades 328 Certeyne waters..do..shewe..dyuers tinctures of mynerall substaunce. 1594 Plat Jewell-ho. ii. 11 If you may not giue a tincture to your creame before you chearne it. 1602 Marston Ant. & Mel. iii. Wks. 1856 I. 30 The shuddering morne that flakes, With silver tincture, the east vierge of heaven. 1713 Addison Cato i. iv, 'Tis not..The tincture of a skin, that I admire. 1800 H. Wells Constantia Neville (ed. 2) I. 254 The heat of the mask had given to her complexion such a tincture of red. 1822–34 Good's Study Med. (ed. 4) IV. 374 The matter has a bloody tincture and a bilious smell. |
b. Her. Inclusive term for the metals, colours, and furs used in coats of arms, etc.
| 1610 J. Guillim Heraldry i. ii. (1611) 7 Tincture is a variable hew of Armes and is common as well to differences of Armes as to the Armes themselues. 1725 Coats Dict. Her., Tincture, is no other than the Hue or Colour of any thing in Coat-Armour, and under this Denomination may be also included the two Metals Or and Argent..because they are often represented by Yellow and White, and they themselves bear those Colours. 1842 Brande Dict. Sc., etc., Tinctures, in Heraldry are of three descriptions: metals, colours, and furs. The former are or, argent; the second gules, azure, sable, vert, purpure, sanguine, and tenny. The chief furs are ermine and vair; but there are several varieties of both, distinguished by different names. 1864 Boutell Her. Hist. & Pop. iv. 20 The representation of the Tinctures by means of dots and lines was not in use..before..the accession of the Stuarts. 1891 Scott. N. & Q. Apr. 210/2 At the foot of the stone there is cut the armorial coat..carved so as to show the tinctures, viz., Sable, a fess between three mascles, two and one, or. |
† 3. a. The action of dyeing, staining, or colouring.
| 1601 Holland Pliny (1634) II. 619 This stone [Chrysoprase] is very apt to be counterfeited, and especially by tincture. 1650 Bulwer Anthropomet. ii. 58 This Tincture of Hair is most shameful and detestable in men. 1681 tr. Willis' Rem. Med. Wks. Vocab., Tincture, a dying or colouring. |
† b. fig. A stain, blemish. Obs.
| a 1640 J. Ball Answ. to Canne ii. (1642) 9 Our service was picked and culled out of the masse booke..so it might, and yet be free from all fault and tincture. a 1658 Cleveland Poems, etc. (1677) 149 To offend against so Gracious a Patron, would add a Tincture to our Disobedience. |
† 4. fig. An imparted quality likened to a colour or dye; a specious or ‘colourable’ appearance; a quality or character with which anything is imbued, esp. a derived quality; a tinge. Obs.
| 1590 Nashe Pasquil's Apol. i. D ij, They that abused thys place,..had a little more tincture from hence to lay uppon theyr opinion, than Penrie can haue. 1640 Harvey Synagogue (1647) 7 Hypocrisie in Church is Alchymie, That casts a golden tincture upon brasse. 1652 L. S. People's Liberty vii. 13 His speech..having a tincture from his guilty conscience. 1711 Steele Spect. No. 144 ¶7 A goodness mixed with Fear, gives a Tincture to all her Behaviour. 1757 Burke Abridgm. Eng. Hist. ii. i, The Saxon language received little or no tincture from the Welsh. 1806 T. S. Surr Winter in Lond. I. 242, I attributed this tincture of mind in a great degree to his peculiar destiny. |
† 5. a. A physical quality (other than colour) communicated to something; esp. a taste or flavour, a taint. Obs.
| 1610 Holland Camden's Brit. i. 306 Whether it bee by the nature, or tincture and temper thereof. 1625 N. Carpenter Geog. Del. ii. v. (1635) 77 They receiue their tincture of saltnesse from some salt minerals of the Earth. 1697 Bp. Patrick Comm. Exod. xiii. 6 Anything..that might give a Tincture of Acidity to the Bread. 1727 Bradley's Fam. Dict. s.v. Distilling, The Waters..smell of Smoke, and had a Tincture of Adustion. |
b. A slight infusion (of some element or quality; a tinge, a shade, a flavour, a trace; a smattering (of knowledge, etc.).
| 1612 Selden Illustr. Drayton's Poly-olb. xi. 184 They had lived here C.L. yeers by the common account without tincture of true religion. 1697 G. Burghope Disc. Relig. Assemb. 107 This irreligious custom..has a tincture of atheism in it. 1711 Steele Spect. No. 38 ¶5 This, perhaps, cannot be called Affectation; but it has some Tincture of it. 1775 Tyrwhitt Chaucer IV. 26 We may fairly conclude, that the English language must have imbibed a strong tincture of the French, long before the age of Chaucer. 1858 Carlyle Fredk. Gt. i. iv. (1872) I. 31 Ernst August has some tincture of soldiership at this time. |
† 6. Alch. a. A supposed spiritual principle or immaterial substance whose character or quality may be infused into material things, which are then said to be tinctured; the quintessence, spirit, or soul of a thing. universal tincture, the Elixir. Obs.
| 1599 T. M[oufet] Silkwormes 68 A Quintessence? nay wel it may be call'd A deathlesse tincture, sent vs from the skies Whose colour stands, whose glosse is ne'er appall'd. 1649 J. E[llistone] tr. Behmen's Epist. Pref. 10 This..conduces to the attainment of the Universall Tincture and Signature; whereby the different secret qualities, and vertues, that are hid in all visible and corporeall things..may be drawne forth and applyed to their right naturall use. Ibid. iii. §34 Operation of the philosopher's stone or universal tincture from me. 1693 tr. Blancard's Phys. Dict. (ed. 2), Tinctura, a Tincture, or Elixir, the Extraction of the Colour, Quality, and Strength of any thing. |
† b. An active principle, of a physical nature, emanating or derivable from any body or substance; a liquid or volatile principle. Obs.
| 1602 T. Fitzherbert Apol. 48 If by chaunce her Maiestie had layed her hand vpon the poysoned pomel of the Sadle in the moneth of Iuly when the pores and veynes are open she might haue byn poysoned or receaue maligne vapors or tinctures. 1671 Grew Anat. Plants ii. §23 The purest part [of the Sap]..recedes, with its due Tinctures, from the said Cortical Body, to all the parts of the Lignous. Ibid. vi. §4 Precipitation is made by the mixture and reaction of the Tinctures of the Lignous and Cortical Bodies upon each other. a 1677 Hale Prim. Orig. Man. ii. xii. 241 The Fertility of their Soil by the Inundation of Nilus, which at its recess leaves so fruitful a Tincture, that thereby and by the heat of the Sun, Animals have their visible production. Ibid. iii. iv. 267 The..Dew exhaled from some sorts of Herbs or Weeds,..carries with it the Seminal Tincture of the Herb. |
7. Chem. and Pharm. † a. In early chemistry, and in derived uses: The (supposed) essential principle of any substance obtained in solution. Also, the extraction of this essential principle. Obs.
tincture of gold, potable gold, aurum potabile. tincture of the moon (i.e. of silver, Luna): see quot. 1706.
| 1610 B. Jonson Alch. ii. iii, Infuse vinegar, To draw his volatile substance and his tincture. 1626 ― Fort. Isles Wks. (Rtldg.) 649/1 This little gallipot Of tincture, high rose tincture. 1651 French Distill. vi. 179 A way by which the tincture of gold which is the soule thereof,..may be..extracted. 1669 Worlidge Syst. Agric. (1681) 39 Many of our best Mechanicks being too much addicted to the tincture of this Grain [barley]. 1675 E. Wilson Spadacrene Dunelm. Pref. 12 As to the discovery of Metalline tinctures in waters. 1696 Phillips (ed. 5), Tincture..In Chymistry, the Extraction of the Colour, Quality and Strength of any thing. 1706 Ibid. (ed. Kersey), Tincture of the Moon, is a Dissolution of some of the more rarify'd parts of Silver, made in Spirit of Wine, and whetted by Alkali-Salts. 1707 Mortimer Husb. (1721) I. 355 'Tis not unlikely that Grain may afford its Tincture, and that excellent Beer and Ale may be made thereof without Malting. |
b. Mod. Pharmacy. A solution, usually in a menstruum of alcohol, of some principle used in medicine, chiefly vegetable, as tincture of opium (laudanum), but sometimes animal, as tincture of cantharides, or mineral, as tincture of ferric chloride.
More particularly called an alcoholic tincture. But the menstruum may also be sulphuric ether or spirit of ammonia (both mainly alcohol), which give ethereal tincture and ammoniated tinctures respectively; when wine is used they are called medicated wines. A tincture is simple when it is a solution of one substance only, compound when of two or more substances.
| a 1648 Digby Chym. Secr. (1682) 172 An excellent Spirit of Wine, fit to draw Tinctures. 1704 J. Harris Lex. Techn. I, Tincture, in Chymistry, is a Dissolution of the more fine, and volatile Parts of a mixt Body in Spirit of Wine, or some such proper Menstruum. 1712 tr. Pomet's Hist. Drugs I. 184 A Tincture is likewise extracted with Spirit of Wine Tartariz'd. 1789 Buchan Dom. Med. (1790) 695 Aromatic Tincture. Infuse two ounces of Jamaica pepper in two pints of brandy, without heat, for a few days; then strain off the tincture. 1800 tr. Lagrange's Chem. II. 327 Alcohol dissolves resins and resinous gums: these solutions are called Tinctures, Elixirs, Quintessences, &c. 1813 J. Thomson Lect. Inflam. 83 The results were the same when tincture of opium was employed. 1842 Brande Dict. Sc. etc., s.v., The term tincture is sometimes applied to alcoholic solutions of resins, of which tincture of myrrh, of assafœtida, &c. furnish instances. 1871 Garrod Mat. Med. (ed. 3) 162 Tincture of Aconite. (Aconite root, in coarse powder, two ounces and a half; rectified spirit, twenty fluid ounces. Prepared by maceration and percolation.) |
c. An alcoholic drink, a ‘snifter’. colloq.
| 1914 Joyce Dubliners 115 Weathers made them all have just one little tincture at his expense. 1980 Ingrams & Wells Dear Bill 36 Rough diamond, especially after a tincture or two. |
† 8. Affectedly used for ‘baptism’. Cf. late L. use of tingĕre (to dip) for ‘baptize’, and tinction 1.
| 1612 Selden Illustr. Drayton's Poly-olb. iv. 73 Honoured in holy tincture of Christianity with the name of Robert. Ibid. ix. 146 Cadwallader..received of P. P. Sergius, with holy tincture, the name of Peter. |
▪ II. ˈtincture, v.
[f. prec. n.]
1. trans. To impart a tincture or dye to; to dye; to colour, tinge, imbue. (Chiefly in pa. pple.)
| 1616 [see tincturing below]. 1634 Sir T. Herbert Trav. 147 Cheekes tinctured with Vermillion. 1664 H. More Myst. Iniq. 310 The River that will run tinctured with bloud three hundred years hence. 1715 tr. Pancirollus' Rerum Mem. I. i. i. 2 This Juice..which Wooll and Purple-Silk..were tinctur'd with. 1814 Wordsw. Excursion vii. 188 Homespun wool But tinctured daintily with florid hues. 1822–34 Good's Study Med. (ed. 4) I. 325 One of the latest fluids that becomes tinctured is the milk in icteric wet-nurses. 1828 Moore 'Tis sweet to think ii, It will tincture Love's plume with a different hue. |
2. transf. and fig. To imbue or impregnate with a quality; to communicate some quality to; to affect, tinge, taint. (Chiefly in pa. pple., const. with.) † a. with a physical quality, as smell or taste. Obs.
| 1668 H. More Div. Dial. v. xxxviii. (1713) 515 Innocuous Whirl-winds of sincere Air, tinctured only with a cool refreshing smell. 1671 Grew Anat. Plants ii. §23 The remainder..is in part carried off into the Cortical Body back again, the Sap whereof it now tinctures into good Aliment. 1678 R. Barclay Apol. Quakers vii. xii. 237 Water may be capable to be tinctured with uncleanness. 1820 Mair Tyro's Dict. (ed. 10), Aluminosus,..tinctured with, smelling or tasting of alum. |
b. with a mental or moral quality or character; with reference to knowledge (pass. with with), to have a smattering of. (In early use often with allusion to alchemy: cf. prec. 6.)
| 1636 Heywood Love's Mistr. Prol., So pure a mind, As if tinctur'd from Heaven. 1651 Wittie tr. Primrose's Pop. Err. i. xiii. 47 He professed himselfe to be a Physician (although he was but lightly tinctured with the knowledge of Physick). 1662 Sparrow tr. Behme's Rem. Wks., Apol. conc. Perfect. 147, I must be Tinctured or else I cannot be Transmuted; If Christ do not Tincture me with his Bloud, then my Holy Paradise-Life remaineth faded. 1718 Free-thinker No. 7 ¶2 His Conversation was tinctured through⁓out with the Ancient Mythology. 1878 Spurgeon Treas. Dav. Ps. cxv. 1 The prayer is evidently tinctured with a consciousness of unworthiness. |
c. intr. for pass. To take or have a tinge of something. rare—1.
| 1787 ‘G. Gambado’ Acad. Horsemen (1809) 15 It [a portrait] is like, but a likeness that tinctures of the prejudice of friendship. |
† 3. To deposit (one metal upon another). rare.
| 1670 Specif. Pr. Rupert's Patent 2 A new Invencion or Art of Tincturing Copper vpon Iron. 1679 Essex Papers (Camden) I. 235 Of tincturing of Copper upon Iron as to him or them shall seem meet. |
Hence ˈtincturing vbl. n.
| 1616 T. Tuke (title) A Treatise against Painting and Tincturing of Men and Women. 1656 Artif. Handsom. 110 Hangings, pictures, carvings, guildings, and tincturings. 1679 [see 3 above]. 1902 W. M. Alexander Demonic Possession in N.T. iii. 65 [They] may contain a tincturing of medical lore. |