Also 4 effuscion, 5–6 effucion. [ad. (directly or through Fr. effusion, 14th c. in Littré) L. effūsiōn-em, n. of action f. effund-ĕre: see EFFUND.]
1. A pouring out, a spilling (of liquid); † shedding (of tears). Effusion of blood: bloodshed, slaughter; also in general sense, the pouring out of blood by a wound, etc. (and see 1 e).
c. 14[?]. Tundale’s Vis. Circumcision, 8. Cryst in his manhode Sched his blode by effusyon.
c. 1440. Gesta Rom., xl. 164 (Harl. MS.). In holy writte Effucion of bloode is not elles but trespas in synnyng.
1526. Tindale, Hebr. ix. 22. With out effusion of bloud is no remission.
1595. Shaks., John, V. ii. 49. This effusion of such manly drops,… Startles mine eyes.
1603. Holland, Plutarch’s Mor., 1295. The effusions and funerall libaments.
1660. Jer. Taylor, Worthy Commun., i. § 4. 76. Our blessed Lord was pleased to command the representation of his death and sacrifice on the crosse should be made by breaking bread and effusion of wine.
1660. Jer. Taylor, Duct. Dubit., II. iii. 19. 426. For the danger of effusion of the holy wine they in some places chose that expedient.
1767. Gooch, Treat. Wounds, I. 162. The effusion of blood … may bring the patient’s life into danger.
1850. Merivale, Rom. Emp. (1865), I. i. 9. Every new conquest required a fresh effusion from her veins.
1867. Sir J. Herschel, Fam. Lect. Sc., 43. The effusion of lava.
concr. 1603. Shaks., Meas. for M., III. i. 30. Thine owne bowels … the meere effusion of thy proper loines.
1734. trans. Rollin’s Anc. Hist. (1827), VII. XVII. iv. 149. Shed a constant effusion of wine.
¶ Used for AFFUSION.
1687. G. Towerson, Baptism, 54. To baptize by a bare Effusion, or sprinkling of water.
1726. Ayliffe, Parergon, 103. Baptism … may be perform’d even by Effusion or Sprinkling.
† b. Effusion of spirits (see ANIMAL SPIRITS): supposed to be the cause of fainting. Obs.
1651. Sir H. Wotton, in Ellis, Orig. Lett., I. 340, III. 255, note. On a sudden effusion of spirits, he sunk under the table.
1656. Ridgley, Pract. Physic, 15. A wound of the brain, and from thence an effusion or troubling of the spirits.
† c. A copious emission of smoke, ‘effluvia’ (see EFFLUVIUM), etc. Also concr. Obs.
1477. Norton, Ord. Alch., vii. in Ashm. (1652), 104.
| For Magnetia is Fier of effusion, | |
| Full of perills and full of illusion. |
1664. Power, Exp. Philos., I. 58. Besides the Magnetical One of the Earth, several Effusions there may be from divers other Bodies.
1667. Milton, P. L., VI. 766. From about him fierce Effusion rowld Of smoak.
d. Physics. (See quot.)
1850. T. Graham, Chem. (ed. 2), I. 78. Effusion of gases … by which I express their passage into a vacuum by a small aperture in a thin plate.
e. Pathol. The escape of any fluid out of its natural vessel, and its lodgment elsewhere; ‘the separation of fluid from the vessels in a morbid state of the parts’ (Syd. Soc. Lex.).
1732. Arbuthnot, Rules of Diet, 364. The Effusion and Pressure of any Serosity or Blood upon the Ventricles of the Brain.
1813. J. Thomson, Lect. Inflam., 122. The effect of inflammation termed effusion.
1856. Kane, Arct. Expl., I. xix. 232. The immovability of my limbs was due to dropsical effusion.
2. transf. and fig. † a. Of persons: Dispersion, rout. Also poet. of things: Confused downfall.
a. 1400[?]. Chester Pl. (Shaks. Soc.), 92. Godes people were put to effuscion.
1725. Pope, Odyss., XXII. 99. In mix’d effusion roll, Th’ untasted viands.
† b. ‘Bounteous donation’ (J.). Obs.
1514. R. Pace, in Fiddes, Wolsey, II. (1726), 203. He doithe seke nothynge but favors, & procurithe the same bi effusion off mony.
1614. Raleigh, Hist. World, IV. v. § 3. 214. Antigonus sped so well by large effusion of his treasure.
1654. Hammond, Fundamentals, 68. The great force that the gospel … had … upon men’s souls, melting them into that liberal effusion of all that they had.
c. A ‘pouring’ forth of any influence or agency; often of the Holy Ghost.
1550. Crowley, Inform. & Petit., 324. You shall not be forgotten in the effucion of thys plage.
1658. Baxter, Saving Faith, § 4. 27. The Promise of Infusion and Effusion [I will pour out my Spirit to you].
1741. T. Francklin, trans. Cicero’s Nat. Gods, I. 28. The World, with an universal Effusion of its [Reason’s] Spirit, is God.
1879. Farrar, St. Paul (1883), 66. The fulfillment of Christ’s promise in the effusion of His Spirit.
3. fig. A pouring forth, unrestrained utterance (of words, sounds, etc.); frank and eager expression (of emotions).
1659. Hammond, On Ps., Pref. 4. It was a new hymne of Christ’s effusion.
1778. Robertson, Hist. Amer., I. II. 108. The effusion of joy was general and unbounded.
1811. Jane Austen, Sense & Sens., III. ix. 198. He was an involuntary confidence, an irrepressible effusion to a soothing friend.
1849. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., II. 606. William talked to them [Dykvelt and Witsen] with a frankness and an effusion of heart, which seldom appeared in his conversations with Englishmen.
1870. Swinburne, Ess. & Stud. (1875), 266. The other’s [song] … warmer in effusion of sound.
b. abstr. Effusiveness, enthusiastic demeanor. [So in Fr.]
1878. H. S. Wilson, Alpine Ascents, ii. 61. Talking cheerily, I dine with effusion.
4. concr. Applied to a literary composition, to a speech (formerly also to any work of art), considered as an ‘outpouring’ of the author’s feelings, genius, etc. Now often contemptuous.
1779. Johnson, L. P., Pope, Wks. IV. 71. Queen Caroline had declared her intention to visit him [Pope]. This may have been only a careless effusion.
c. 1811. Fuseli, Lect. Art., v. (1848), 462. The effusions of Lanfranco and Pietro da Cortona.
1826. Scott, Woodst., i. Here ended this wild effusion.
1839. Thirlwall, Greece, I. 247. The extemporaneous effusions … of a Phemius and a Demodocus.
1873. H. Rogers, Orig. Bible, viii. (1874), 346. That book … was the effusion of one master mind.
Hence Effusionist, a writer of ‘effusions.’
1842. Fraser’s Mag., XXVI. 449. All great novelists … were men of genius and learning. The popular monthly effusionists nowadays are neither.
