fumigation
(fjuːmɪˈgeɪʃən)
[ad. L. fūmigātiōn-em, n. of action f. fūmigāre to fumigate. Cf. F. fumigation.]
1. The action of generating odorous smoke or fumes, esp. as one of the ceremonies of incantation; the action of perfuming with aromatic herbs, perfumes, etc. Also concr. the preparation used to produce this, or the fumes resulting from it.
| c 1384 Chaucer H. Fame iii. 174 Olde wicches, sorceresses, That use exorsisaciouns, And eek thise fumigaciouns. a 1483 Liber Niger in Househ. Ord. (1790) 40 These ij wardrobers have all theyre fumigations. 1522 Skelton Why not to Court 696 It was by necromansy Under a certeyne constellacyon, And a certayne fumygacyon. 1547–64 Bauldwin Mor. Philos. (Palfr.) 148 Perfect deuotion & the knowledge of Gods law..smelleth far more sweetly before Him, then any earthly fumigation..doth pleasantly smell in the nose of man. 1599 B. Jonson Cynthia's Rev. v. ii, It is the sorting, and the dividing, and the mixing..that makes the fumigation and the suffumigation. a 1680 Butler Rem. (1759) II. 235 These Spirits they use to catch by the Noses with Fumigations. 1758 Johnson Idler No. 35 ¶9 She keeps the rooms always scented by fumigations. 1856 R. A. Vaughan Mystics (1860) I. 36 A divine efficacy is attributed to rites and formulas, sprinklings or fumigations. 1867 Parkman Jesuits N. Amer. viii. (1875) 91 On these the sorcerer threw tobacco, producing a stifling fumigation. |
b. jocularly. Tobacco-smoking.
| 1800 Freemason's Magazine in Spirit Publ. Jrnls. (1801) IV. 157 Taciturnity and fumigation are now two essential requisites in a candidate..Every member of this society must, immediately after supper, take a pipe. |
2. The action or process of fumigating or applying fumes or smoke, esp. as a disinfectant.
| 1572 L. Mascall Plant. & Graff. (1592) 49 Defend them from the frost (if there come any) with fumigations or smokes, made on the winde side of your Orchards. 1658 Rowland Moufet's Theat. Ins. 956 You may make a Fumigation or Perfume of Pomegranat Pills..Sulphur, and Vitriol, which will drive them away. 1757 Darwin in Phil. Trans. L. 252 The fumes of boiling water were conveyed upon this ball..and, after a fumigation for thirty seconds, it shewed signs of electricity. a 1777 Fawkes Argonautics ii. note (1780) 347 It was the custom of the ancients to force bees out of their hives by fumigation. 1813 J. Thomson Lect. Inflam. 489 The day after the fumigation not the slightest vestige of any offensive odour could be perceived. 1892 Times (weekly ed.) 21 Oct. 2/4 The vessel is detained for fumigation. |
† b. spec. (See quots.) Obs.
| 1612 Woodall Surg. Mate Wks. (1653) 271 Fumigation is calcination of metals, by the sharp corroding vapour of Mercury, Philosophers Lead. 1641 French Distill. iii. (1651) 80 Calcine it by fumigation i.e. by the fume of some very sharp Spirit as of Aqua fortis. 1683 Pettus Fleta Min. ii. 21 There are other ways of Calcination especially of Metals; viz. by..Fumigations. |
3. Med. ‘Exposure to fumes, especially the exposure of the body or a part of it, such as the skin or the respiratory mucous membrane, to fumes in order to produce a therapeutic effect’ (Syd. Soc. Lex. 1885). Also concr. the fumes generated for this purpose.
| c 1400 Lanfranc's Cirurg. 256 Make him a fumigacioun to his eere wiþ hoot watir. Ibid. 291 Drie hem with fumygaciouns maad of pulpa coloquintida. 1527 Andrew Brunswyke's Distyll. Waters T ij b, A fumygacyon made of the same water is good for hering. 1629 Massinger Picture iv. ii, The friction with fumigation, cannot save him From the chine-evil. 1655 Culpepper, etc. Riverius i. i. 3 Fumigations if they be not too strong, do well to consume moisture. 1713 Swift, etc. Frenzy of J. Dennis Wks. 1755 III. i. 142 Let fumigations be used to corroborate the brain. 1801 Med. Jrnl. V. 219, I also applied the nitrous fumigation in cases of synochus. 1876 Bartholow Mat. Med. (1879) 129 In..maladies of the respiratory organs, it [arsenic] is used with advantage by the process of fumigation. |
4. Comb.: fumigation-lamp (see quot.).
| 1815 Falconer's Dict. Marine (ed. Burney), Fumigation Lamps, a recent invention for the purpose of expelling foul air from the holds and other confined places of ships. 1867 in Smyth Sailor's Word-bk. |