transfusion
(trɑːnsˈfjuːʒən, træns-)
[ad. L. transfūsiōn-em, n. of action from transfundĕre to transfuse. Cf. F. transfusion (1307 in Godef. Compl.).]
The action of transfusing.
1. The action of pouring a liquid from one vessel into another; also fig. transference; transmission; translation.
| 1578 Banister Hist. Man i. 14 Nerves..pass through them [bones]..for the transfusion of sense into other partes. c 1645 Howell Lett. (1650) II. ii. xlviii. 61 It is with languages as 'tis with liquors which by transfusion use to take wind from one vessell to another. 1700 Dryden Fables Pref. (1721) 24, I grant that something must be lost in all transfusion, that is, in all translations. c 1780 Burney in Boswell Johnson (1848) 71/2 note, He would find the transfusion into another language extremely difficult. 1835 Fraser's Mag. XII. 394 Of all poets, Theocritus is perhaps the least susceptible of transfusion. 1850 Grote Greece ii. lxviii. VIII. 595 Such persuasion had grown up gradually.., partly by insensible transfusion from others. |
2. Med., etc. The process of transferring the blood of a person or animal into the veins of another; the injection of blood or other fluid into the veins.
| 1643 Plain English 21 As if they..should, of a sudden, receive a Transfusion of Sheeps Blood from the others. 1678 Phillips s.v., Transfusion of the blood is a late Anatomical invention experimented by the Royal Society. 1802 Paley Nat. Theol. xxv. (ed. 2) 484 The experiment of transfusion proves, that the blood of one animal will serve for another. 1877 Roberts Handbk. Med. (ed. 3) I. 41 In some cases transfusion of blood is demanded, in order to save life and to replace the blood which has been lost. |
3. attrib. and Comb., as transfusion apparatus, transfusion plan; transfusion cell (Bot.), one of certain cells which remain thin-walled and thus permit the passage of water to the adjacent tissues; so transfusion strand, transfusion tissue.
| 1832 J. Brown Lett. (1907) 25 Give me the latest information about the transfusion plan, specifying the quantities of salt [etc.]. 1875 Bennett & Dyer tr. Sachs' Bot. 466 Cells elongated in a direction transverse to the axis of the leaf..leaving large intercellular spaces (Transfusion-Tissue of Mohl). 1877 Knight Dict. Mech. 2613/2 Aveling's Transfusion-Apparatus. 1898 tr. Strasburger's Text-bk. Bot. i. i. 112 Special endodermal cells, directly external to the xylem strands, remain unthickened and serve as transfusion cells. Ibid. 111 Transfusion strands. |
Hence transˈfusional a., occurring as a result of or by means of transfusion; transˈfusionist, one who advocates or practises the process of transfusion of blood.
| 1889 Pop. Sci. Monthly Apr. 808 The early transfusionists reasoned, in the style of the Christian Scientists, that the blood is the life. 1965 Endocrinology LXXVII. 954 (heading) Effect of natural and synthetic corticoids on transfusional shock in the rat. 1974 R. Zeledón in K. Elliott et al. Trypanosomiasis & Leishmaniasis 70 Besides the normal mechanism of transmission by the insect, two other modes, the transfusional and transplacental, may be epidemiologically important in the maintenance of the disease. 1982 Jrnl. Pharm. & Pharmacol. XXXIV. 730 (heading) Pyridoxal complexes as potential chelating agents for oral therapy in transfusional iron overload. |