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tincture

Pronunciation: /ˈtɪŋ(k)tʃə/

The English word “tincture” has 17 meanings listed here.

noun

  1. A pigment or other substance that colours or dyes; specifically, a pigment used as a cosmetic.
  2. A colour or tint, especially if produced by a pigment or something which stains; a tinge.
  3. A slight addition of a thing to something else; a shade, a touch, a trace.
  4. A hue or pattern used in the depiction of a coat of arms.
  5. The act of colouring or dyeing.
  6. A slight physical quality other than colour (especially taste), or an abstract quality, added to something; a tinge.
  7. A small flaw; a blemish, a stain.
  8. Synonym of baptism.
  9. A medicine consisting of one or more substances dissolved in ethanol or some other solvent.
  10. A (small) alcoholic drink.
  11. An immaterial substance or spiritual principle which was thought capable of being instilled into physical things; also, the essence or spirit of something.
  12. A material essence thought to be capable of extraction from a substance.
  13. The part of a substance thought to be essential, finer, and/or more volatile, which could be extracted in a solution; also, the process of obtaining this.

verb

  1. To colour or stain (something) with, or as if with, a dye or pigment.
  2. Followed by with: to add to or impregnate (something) with (a slight amount of) an abstract or (obsolete) physical quality; to imbue, to taint, to tinge.
  3. To dissolve (a substance) in ethanol or some other solvent to produce a medicinal tincture.
  4. To have a taint or tinge of some quality.

Etymology

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…

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Definitions are from Wiktionary, extracted by Kaikki.org, and are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.