[ad. L. fūmigātiōn-em, n. of action f. fūmigāre to FUMIGATE. Cf. F. fumigation.]
1. The action of generating odorous smoke or fumes, esp. as one of the ceremonies of incantation; the action of perfuming with aromatic herbs, perfumes, etc. Also concr. the preparation used to produce this, or the fumes resulting from it.
c. 1384. Chaucer, H. Fame, III. 174. Olde wicches, sorceresses, That use exorsisaciouns, And eek thise fumigaciouns.
2 a. 1483. Liber Niger, in Househ. Ord. (1790), 40. These ii wardrobers have all theyre fumigations.
1522. Skelton, Why not to Court, 696. It was by necromansy Under a certeyne constellacyon, And a certayne fumygacyon.
1547–64. Bauldwin, Mor. Philos. (Palfr.), 148. Perfect deuotion & the knowledge of Gods law … smelleth far more sweetly before Him, then any earthly fumigation … doth pleasantly smell in the nose of man.
1599. B. Jonson, Cynthia’s Rev., V. ii. It is the sorting, and the dividing, and the mixing … that makes the fumigation and the suffumigation.
a. 1680. Butler, Rem. (1759), II. 235. These Spirits they use to catch by the Noses with Fumigations.
1758. Johnson, Idler, No. 35, 16 Dec., ¶ 9. She is daily enquiring after the best traps for mice; and keeps the rooms always scented by fumigations to destroy the moths.
1856. R. A. Vaughan, Mystics (1860), I. 36. A divine efficacy is attributed to rites and formulas, sprinklings or fumigations, relics or incantations, of mortal manufacture.
1867. Parkman, Jesuits N. Amer., viii. (1875), 91. In the midst were placed several stones, heated red-hot. On these the sorcerer threw tobacco, producing a stifling fumigation; in the midst of which, for a full half-hour, he sang, at the top of his throat, those boastful, yet meaningless, rhapsodies of which Indian magical songs are composed.
b. jocularly. Tobacco-smoking.
1800. Freemason’s Magazine, in Spirit Publ. Jrnls. (1801), IV. 157. Taciturnity and fumigation are now two essential requisites in a candidate…. Every member of this society must, immediately after supper, take a pipe.
2. The action or process of fumigating or applying fumes or smoke, esp. as a disinfectant.
1572. Mascall, Plant. & Graff. (1592), 49. Defend them from the frost (if there come any) with fumigations or smokes, made on the winde side of your Orchards.
1658. Rowland, Moufet’s Theat. Ins., 956. You may make a Fumigation or Perfume of Pomegranat Pills … Sulphur, and Vitriol, which will drive them away.
1757. Darwin, in Phil. Trans., L. 252. The fumes of boiling water were conveyed upon this ball … and, after a fumigation for thirty seconds, it shewed signs of electricity.
a. 1777. Fawkes, Argonautics, II. note (1780), 347. It was the custom of the ancients to force bees out of their hives by fumigation.
1813. J. Thomson, Lect. Inflam., 489. The day after the fumigation not the slightest vestige of any offensive odour could be perceived.
1892. Times (weekly ed.), 21 Oct., 2/4. The vessel is detained for fumigation.
† b. spec. (See quots.) Obs.
1612. Woodall, Surg. Mate, Wks. (1653), 271. Fumigation is calcination of metals, by the sharp corroding vapour of Mercury, Philosophers Lead.
1641. French, Distill., iii. (1651), 80. Calcine it by fumigation i. e. by the fume of some very sharp Spirit as of Aqua fortis, or the like.
1683. Pettus, Fleta Min., II. 21. There are other ways of Calcination especially of Metals; viz. by … Fumigations.
3. Med. ‘Exposure to fumes, especially the exposure of the body or a part of it, such as the skin or the respiratory mucous membrane, to fumes in order to produce a therapeutic effect’ (Syd. Soc. Lex., 1885). Also concr. the fumes generated for this purpose.
c. 1400. Lanfranc’s Cirurg., 256. Make him a fumigacioun to his eere wiþ hoot watir. Ibid., 291. Drie hem with fumygaciouns maad of pulpa coloquintida.
1527. Andrew, Brunswyke’s Distyll. Waters, T ij b. A fumygacyon made of the same water is good for hering.
1629. Massinger, Picture, IV. ii. The friction with fumigation, cannot save him From the chine-evil.
1655. Culpepper, etc., Riverius, I. i. 3. Fumigations if they be not too strong, do well to consume moisture.
1713. Swift, etc., Frenzy of J. Dennis, Wks. 1755, III. I. 142. Let fumigations be used to corroborate the brain.
1801. Med. Jrnl., V. 219. I also applied the nitrous fumigation in cases of synochus.
1876. Bartholow, Mat. Med. (1879), 129. In … maladies of the respiratory organs, it [arsenic] is used with advantage by the process of fumigation.
4. Comb.: fumigation-lamp (see quot.).
1815. Falconer’s Dict. Marine (ed. Burney), Fumigation Lamps, a recent invention for the purpose of expelling foul air from the holds and other confined places of ships, and particularly useful for cleansing and keeping sweet and wholesome all receptacles for the sick.
1867. in Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk.
