tincture

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 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 teinture and tinctura. The verb is derived from the noun.

noun

1. Senses relating to colour, and to dipping something into a liquid.
   1. (obsolete) A pigment or other substance that colours or dyes; specifically, a pigment used as a cosmetic. [15th–19th c.]
   2. (by extension)
      1. A colour or tint, especially if produced by a pigment or something which stains; a tinge.
      2. (figurative) A slight addition of a thing to something else; a shade, a touch, a trace.
         His Plato's] divergence from the Pythagoreans in making the One and the Numbers separate from things, and his introduction of the Forms, were due to his inquiries in the region of definitory formulae (for the earlier thinkers had no tincture of dialectic), […] 1908, Aristotle, chapter VI, in W[illiam] D[avid] Ross, transl., edited by J[ohn] A[lexander] Smith and W. D. Ross, Metaphysica (The Works of Aristotle Translated into English; VIII), Oxford, Oxfordshire: Clarendon Press, →OCLC, book I (Α), Bekker number 987ᵇ, lines 30–34
      3. (heraldry) A hue or pattern used in the depiction of a coat of arms; namely, a colour, fur, or metal.
   3. (obsolete)
      1. The act of colouring or dyeing.
      2. (figurative)
         1. A slight physical quality other than colour (especially taste), or an abstract quality, added to something; a tinge.
            a tincture of orange peel
         2. A small flaw; a blemish, a stain.
            To offend againſt ſo gracious a Patron, vvould add a Tincture to our Diſobedience; yet ſuch is the Iniquity of our Condition, that vve are forced to defer our Gratitude. a. 1659 (date written), John Cleveland, “To the Earl of Holland, then Chancellor of the University of Cambridge”, in J[ohn] L[ake], S[amuel] D[rake], editors, The Works of John Cleveland, Containing His Poems, Orations, Epistles,[…], London: […] R. Holt, for Obadiah Blagrave,[…], published 1687, →OCLC, page 114
      3. (Christianity) Synonym of baptism
2. Scientific and alchemical senses.
   1. (pharmacy) A medicine consisting of one or more substances dissolved in ethanol or some other solvent.
      tincture of cannabis    tincture of iodine
   2. (by extension, humorous) A (small) alcoholic drink.
   3. (obsolete except historical)
      1. (alchemy)
         1. An immaterial substance or spiritual principle which was thought capable of being instilled into physical things; also, the essence or spirit of something.
            For vvhat is ſilke but eu'n a Quinteſſence, / Made vvithout hands beyond al humane ſenſe? / A quinteſſence? nay vvel it may be call'd, / A deathleſſe tincture, ſent vs from the skies, / VVhoſe colour ſtands, vvhose gloſſe is ne're appalld, […] 1599, T[homas] M[offett], The Silkewormes, and Their Flies:[…], London: […] V[alentine] S[immes] for Nicholas Ling,[…], →OCLC, pages 67–68
         2. A material essence thought to be capable of extraction from a substance.
      2. (chemistry) 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. (transitive)
   1. (chiefly in past participle form) To colour or stain (something) with, or as if with, a dye or pigment.
      The VVater of theſe is like to that of Baden in Auſtria; it leaves a vvhite Sediment upon the Moſs and places it vvaſheth, and tinctureth metals black: […] 1670 June 2 (Gregorian calendar), Edward Brown [i.e., Edward Browne], “An Accompt Given by Doctor Edward Brown, Concerning the Copper-mine at Herrn-ground in Hungary”, in Philosophical Transactions: Giving Some Accompt of the Present Undertakings, Studies and Labours of the Ingenious in Many Considerable Parts of the World, volume V, number 59, London: […] John Martyn[…]; printer to the Royal Society, →OCLC, pages 1046–1047
   2. (figurative, chiefly in past participle form) 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.
      Chriſt dravveth my VVill into himſelf, and cloateth it vvith his Blood and Death, and tictureth it vvith the higheſt Tincture of the Divine Povver: Thus it is changed into an Angelical Image, and getteth a Divine Life. 1653, Jacob Behmen [i.e., Jakob Böhme], “A Theosophick Epistle, or Letter, wherein the Life of a True Christian is Described:[…]”, in [anonymous], transl., A Consideration upon the Book of Esaias Stiefel of the Threefold State of Man, and His New Birth.[…], London: […] John Macock, →OCLC, paragraph 34, page 129
      Now observe my dear Sir I dont for a moment push my little but honest Religious faith upon poor [John] Keats—except as far as my feelings go—but these I try to keep from him— I fall into his views sometimes to quiet him and tincture them with a somewhat of mine— […] 24 December 1820, Joseph Severn, “[Number] 85: Joseph Severn to John Taylor”, in Hyder Edward Rollins, editor, The Keats Circle: Letters and Papers 1816–1878, volume I, Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, published 1948, →OCLC, page 181
      Thou tincturest bright Hebe's lonely walks, / Art with her as inspir'd with dread, she stalks / With pleasing dread, the sylvan maze, where dwell / Oft lowering gipsies of the wizard spell; […] 1828, William Crawford, “The Fanciad”, in The Fates of Alceus; or, Love’s Knight Errant: An Amatory Poem,[…], Paisley, Renfrewshire: […] J. Taylor, →OCLC, page 121
      Oh, beauteous little pigeon, / Say whither art thou flying? / And whence hast gained the perfume / That from thy wings diffusing / Tincturest the air thou breathest? A translation of the Greek lyric poet Anacreon’s poem “Pigeon”. 1863 May, T. I., “Catallus. Part I.”, in Dublin University Magazine, a Literary and Political Journal, volume LXI, number CCCLXV, Dublin: George Herbert,[…]; London: Hurst & Blackett, →OCLC, page 552, column 2
      Nor, I imagine, can librarians be great readers. They have too many books, most of them burdensome. The crowded shelves give off an inviting, consoling, seductive odor that is also tinctured faintly with something pernicious, with poison and doom. 1982, Saul Bellow, “Him with His Foot in His Mouth”, in Him with His Foot in His Mouth and Other Stories, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Row, published 1984, page 11
   3. (pharmacy) To dissolve (a substance) in ethanol or some other solvent to produce a medicinal tincture.
      Fill a glass jar full of plant matter, leaving an inch of space. (I prefer to tincture each herb separately and mix combinations as I need them.) Completely cover plants with 100-proof vodka, brandy, or vinegar and secure the lid tightly. 2011, Deb Soule, “Creating a Herbal Apothecary”, in The Woman’s Handbook of Herbal Healing: A Guide to Natural Remedies, New York, N.Y.: Skyhorse Publishing
2. (intransitive, rare) To have a taint or tinge of some quality.
   The portrait of the Author, prefixed, is engraved from a drawing by another of his friends, done from memory; it is like, but a likeneſs that tinctures of the prejudice of friendſhip. 1787, Geoffrey Gambado [pseudonym; Henry William Bunbury], “The Editor to the Reader”, in An Academy for Grown Horsemen;[…], 2nd edition, London: […] Hooper and Wigstead,[…], published 1796, →OCLC, page xviii
   Which one of the carefully chosen assessors, one white, one sufficiently tinctured to pass as black, was it who was speaking—both sat, either side of the judge, silent henchmen. 1998, Nadine Gordimer, The House Gun, New York, N.Y.: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, page 212