tincture

[tingk-cher] /ˈtɪŋk tʃər/
noun
1.
Pharmacology. a solution of alcohol or of alcohol and water, containing animal, vegetable, or chemical drugs.
2.
a slight infusion, as of some element or quality:
A tincture of education had softened his rude manners.
3.
a trace; a smack or smattering; tinge:
a tincture of irony.
4.
Heraldry. any of the colors, metals, or furs used for the fields, charges, etc., of an escutcheon or achievement of arms.
5.
a dye or pigment.
verb (used with object), tinctured, tincturing.
6.
to impart a tint or color to; tinge.
7.
to imbue or infuse with something.
Origin
1350-1400; Middle English: dye < Latin tīnctūra dyeing. See tinct, -ure
Related forms
pretincture, noun
untinctured, adjective
Examples from the web for tincture
  • Truth, however, needs a tincture of surprise to be entertaining.
  • Economics is their tincture for nearly every ill: create mini-markets for everything and watch our problems evaporate.
  • His only hands-on job is to pour the liquid tincture that gives the works their colour.
  • And if all else failed, there was always tincture of jaborandi.
  • Everything here is vegetarian, down to the last drop of tincture.
  • The tincture you have in your hands also has burdock in it.
  • All this comes with a certain tincture of yesteryear.
  • But there is a tincture of enforced humility in missing that has to be salutary for a venture such as this.
  • He thanked me with a smiling nod, measured out a few minims of the red tincture and added one of the powders.
  • Not merely giving the mind a slight tincture but a thorough and perfect dye.
British Dictionary definitions for tincture

tincture

/ˈtɪŋktʃə/
noun
1.
(pharmacol) a medicinal extract in a solution of alcohol
2.
a tint, colour, or tinge
3.
a slight flavour, aroma, or trace
4.
any one of the colours or either of the metals used on heraldic arms
5.
(obsolete) a dye or pigment
verb
6.
(transitive) to give a tint or colour to
Word Origin
C14: from Latin tinctūra a dyeing, from tingere to dye
Word Origin and History for tincture
n.

c.1400, from Latin tinctura "act of dyeing or tingeing," from tinctus "dye," past participle of tingere "to tinge, dye, moisten, soak," from PIE root *teng- "to soak" (cf. Old High German dunkon "to soak," Greek tengein "to moisten"). Meaning "solution of medicine in a mixture of alcohol" is first recorded 1640s. The verb is recorded from 1610s.

tincture in Medicine

tincture tinc·ture (tĭngk'chər)
n.

  1. A coloring or dyeing substance.


  2. Abbr. tinct, tr An alcohol solution of a nonvolatile medicine.