from
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Tincture \Tinc"ture\, n. [L. tinctura a dyeing, from tingere,
tinctum, to tinge, dye: cf. OE. tainture, teinture, F.
teinture, L. tinctura. See {Tinge}.]
1. A tinge or shade of color; a tint; as, a tincture of red.
[1913 Webster]
2. (Her.) One of the metals, colors, or furs used in armory.
[1913 Webster]
Note: There are two metals: gold, called or, and represented
in engraving by a white surface covered with small
dots; and silver, called argent, and represented by a
plain white surface. The colors and their
representations are as follows: red, called gules, or a
shading of vertical lines; blue, called azure, or
horizontal lines; black, called sable, or horizontal
and vertical lines crossing; green, called vert, or
diagonal lines from dexter chief corner; purple, called
purpure, or diagonal lines from sinister chief corner.
The furs are ermine, ermines, erminois, pean, vair,
counter vair, potent, and counter potent. See
Illustration in Appendix.
[1913 Webster]
3. The finer and more volatile parts of a substance,
separated by a solvent; an extract of a part of the
substance of a body communicated to the solvent.
[1913 Webster]
4. (Med.) A solution (commonly colored) of medicinal
substance in alcohol, usually more or less diluted; spirit
containing medicinal substances in solution.
[1913 Webster]
Note: According to the United States Pharmacopoeia, the term
tincture (also called alcoholic tincture, and
spirituous tincture) is reserved for the alcoholic
solutions of nonvolatile substances, alcoholic
solutions of volatile substances being called spirits.
[1913 Webster]
{Ethereal tincture}, a solution of medicinal substance in
ether.
[1913 Webster]
5. A slight taste superadded to any substance; as, a tincture
of orange peel.
[1913 Webster]
6. A slight quality added to anything; a tinge; as, a
tincture of French manners.
[1913 Webster]
All manners take a tincture from our own. --Pope.
[1913 Webster]
Every man had a slight tincture of soldiership, and
scarcely any man more than a slight tincture.
--Macaulay.
[1913 Webster]