Also 7 -tion. [ad. L. suffūsio, -ōnem, n. of action f. suffūs- (see SUFFUSE). Cf. F. suffusion, It. suffusione, etc.]
1. The defluxion or extravasation of a fluid or ‘humour’ over a part of the body; † concr. the fluid itself; spec. in Old Med., cataract.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XVII. xli. (Bodl. MS.). An oynemente þat … helpeþ aȝens suffusion of yȝen.
1575. Turberv., Faulconrie, 235. Ther is a cataract which doth light upon the eyes of a hawke whome we may tearme a suffusion.
1608. Topsell, Serpents, 209. The braine [sc. of lizards] is profitable for suffusions.
1667. Milton, P. L., III. 26. So thick a drop serene hath quencht thir Orbs, Or dim suffusion veild.
1674. W. Bates, Harmony Div. Attrib., vii. 140. As the Eye that is clouded with a Suffusion, so that all things appear yellow to it.
1688. Boyle, Vit. Sight, 251. I have observed them [sc. flyes in the eye] to continue many years without being more than a bastard suffusion, as Physicians speake.
1728. Dict. Rust. (ed. 3), Suffusion of the Eye, in a Horse, is a sort of Pin and Web.
1728. Chambers’ Cycl., s.v., The Jaundice is a Suffusion of Bile over the whole Body.
1748. V. Renatus, Dis. Horses, 70. A Suffusion or Defluxion in their Feet.
1859. Mayne, Expos. Lex., s.v., A suffusion, or extravasation of some humour, as of blood in the eye.
2. The action of suffusing a surface with fluid, moisture or color; the condition of being suffused or overspread. Also, an instance of this.
1611. Cotgr., Suffusion, a suffusion, or powring vpon; a spreading abroad.
1642. H. More, Song of Soul, III. iii. 49. Miry clods of this accursed earth; Whose dull suffusions make her often sown.
1789. E. Darwin, Bot. Gard., II. (1791), 65. In dim suffusion lies The glance divine, that lighten’d in their eyes.
1813. Scott, Trierm., III. xxx. The golden glow … O’er which in slight suffusion flows A frequent tinge of paly rose.
1843. R. J. Graves, Syst. Clin. Med., xi. 127. He had … a furious aspect, suffusion of the eyes … and perfect sleeplessness.
1872. Darwin, Emotions, viii. 218. The suffusion of the eyes with tears.
fig. 1676. Cudworth, Intell. Syst., I. iv. 224. Because he … being deeply tinctured, as it were, with the Suffusions of it [sc. a doctrine], every thing which he look’d upon, seem’d to him coloured with it.
1792. A. Young, Trav. France, I. 251. There is in this painting such a suffusion of grace, and such a blaze of beauty [etc.].
1852. Ld. Cockburn, Life Jeffrey, I. 91. A clear sweet voice, and a general suffusion of elegance.
3. A coloring or tint spread over a surface, esp. over the skin by the action of the blood, etc.; freq. a flush of color in the face, a blush.
1700. Dryden, Ovid’s Met., XV. 287. The Disk of Phœbus when he climbs on high, Appears at first but as a bloodshot Eye; And when his Chariot downward drives to Bed, His Ball is with the same Suffusion red.
1712. Steele, Spect., No. 390, ¶ 1. Would she not be much more modest without that ambiguous Suffusion?
1745. Akenside, Odes, Agst. Suspicion, ii. Already in your eyes I see a pale suffusion rise.
1763. Phil. Trans., LIII. 232. He … had a yellow suffusion over his skin.
1777. G. Forster, Voy. round World, I. 102. A beautiful suffusion of purple.
1818. Scott, Br. Lamm., ix. The deadly paleness … gave place to a deep and rosy suffusion.
1843. R. J. Graves, Syst. Clin. Med., viii. 93. The tunica adnata was of a pearl-white colour, without the slightest suffusion.
