Link Centre Dictionary

tincture

tinc·ture

UK/ˈtɪŋ(k)tʃə/ US/ˈtɪŋktjʊə/ rare obsolete rare
noun (4) verb (2)

noun

1.

a substances that colors metals

2.

an indication that something has been present

  • “there wasn”
  • “;”
Synonyms
3.

a quality of a given color that differs slightly from a primary color

  • “after several trials he mixed the shade of pink that she wanted”
Synonyms
4.

(pharmacology) a medicine consisting of an extract in an alcohol solution

verb

1.

fill, as with a certain quality

  • “The heavy traffic tinctures the air with carbon monoxide”
Synonyms
2.

stain or tint with a color

  • “The leaves were tinctured with a bright red”

Origin

The noun is derived from Late Middle English tincture (“a dye, pigment; a colour, hue, tint; process of colouring or dyeing; medicinal ointment or salve (perhaps one discolouring the skin); use of a medicinal tincture; (alchemy) transmutation of base metals into gold; ability to cause such transmutation; substance supposed to cause such transmutation”) [and other forms], borrowed from Latin tīnctūra (“act of dyeing”) + Middle English -ure (suffix indicating an action or a process and the means or result of that action or process). Tīnctūra is derived from tīnctus (“coloured, tinged; dipped in; impregnated with; treated”) + -tūra (suffix forming action nouns expressing activities or results); while tīnctus is the perfect passive participle of tingō (“to colour, dye, tinge; to dip (in), immerse; to impregnate (with); to moisten, wet; to smear”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *teng- (“to dip; to soak”). Doublet of tainture, teinture, and tinctura. The verb is derived from the noun.

Phrases

  • rule of tincture
  • tincture of steel
  • Warburg's tincture

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WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.