TINCTURE

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does tincture mean? 

• TINCTURE (noun)
  The noun TINCTURE has 4 senses:

1. a substance that colors or dyes

2. an indication that something has been present

3. a quality of a given color that differs slightly from another color

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

  Familiarity information: TINCTURE used as a noun is uncommon.

• TINCTURE (verb)
  The verb TINCTURE has 2 senses:

1. fill, as with a certain quality

2. stain or tinge with a slight amount of a color

  Familiarity information: TINCTURE used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• TINCTURE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A substance that colors or dyes

Classified under:

Nouns denoting substances

Hypernyms ("tincture" is a kind of...):

color; coloring material; colour; colouring material (any material used for its color)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "tincture"):

argent (a metal tincture used in heraldry to give a silvery appearance)

Derivation:

tincture (stain or tinge with a slight amount of a color)

tinge (color lightly)

Sense 2

Meaning:

An indication that something has been present

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

shadow; tincture; trace; vestige

Context example:

a tincture of condescension

Hypernyms ("tincture" is a kind of...):

indicant; indication (something that serves to indicate or suggest)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "tincture"):

footprint (a trace suggesting that something was once present or felt or otherwise important)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A quality of a given color that differs slightly from another color

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

shade; tincture; tint; tone

Context example:

after several trials he mixed the shade of pink that she wanted

Hypernyms ("tincture" is a kind of...):

color; coloring; colour; colouring (a visual attribute of things that results from the light they emit or transmit or reflect)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "tincture"):

mellowness (a soft shade of a color)

richness (a strong deep vividness of hue)

tinge; undertone (a pale or subdued color)

Derivation:

tincture (stain or tinge with a slight amount of a color)

Sense 4

Meaning:

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

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("tincture" is a kind of...):

medicament; medication; medicinal drug; medicine ((medicine) something that treats or prevents or alleviates the symptoms of disease)

Domain category:

materia medica; pharmacological medicine; pharmacology (the science or study of drugs: their preparation and properties and uses and effects)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "tincture"):

iodine; tincture of iodine (a tincture consisting of a solution of iodine in ethyl alcohol; applied topically to wounds as an antiseptic)

arnica (used especially in treating bruises)

• TINCTURE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they tincture    ... he / she / it tinctures   
Past simple: tinctured   
Past participle: tinctured   
-ing form: tincturing   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Fill, as with a certain quality

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

impregnate; infuse; instill; tincture

Context example:

The heavy traffic tinctures the air with carbon monoxide

Hypernyms (to "tincture" is one way to...):

fill; fill up; make full (make full, also in a metaphorical sense)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody
Something ----s something

Sense 2

Meaning:

Stain or tinge with a slight amount of a color

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Context example:

The sky was tinctured red

Hypernyms (to "tincture" is one way to...):

tinct; tinge; tint; touch (color lightly)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

tincture (a quality of a given color that differs slightly from another color)

tincture (a substance that colors or dyes)

 Context examples 

The opiate morphine, in deodorized tincture of opium, increases the tone of the smooth muscle in the intestines.

(Deodorized Tincture of Opium, NCI Thesaurus)

Blue Cohosh is typically in the form of a tincture or a decoction.

(Blue Cohosh Root, NCI Thesaurus)

As the wafer digested, the tincture mounted to his brain, bearing the proposition along with it.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

He thanked me with a smiling nod, measured out a few minims of the red tincture and added one of the powders.

(The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

Chickweed tincture contains mucilage, saponins, silica, minerals, vitamins A, B, C and fatty acids.

(Chickweed Tincture, NCI Thesaurus)

“Come, brother Stephen, he hath some tincture of letters,” said the melancholy man more hopefully.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Fresh lachesis is diluted in alcohol to obtain the mother tincture.

(Lachesis Venom, NCI Thesaurus)

Also known as Laudanum and formulated for oral administration, Opium tincture is made of air-dried poppy (Papaver somniferum) latex and contains alkaloids such as morphine and codeine.

(Opium Tincture, NCI Thesaurus)

She came up to me one evening, when I was very low, to ask (she being then afflicted with the disorder I have mentioned) if I could oblige her with a little tincture of cardamums mixed with rhubarb, and flavoured with seven drops of the essence of cloves, which was the best remedy for her complaint;—or, if I had not such a thing by me, with a little brandy, which was the next best.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

An opium tincture with antidiarrheal activity.

(Deodorized Tincture of Opium, NCI Thesaurus)