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sanguine - 9 dictionary results

san⋅guine

  [sang-gwin]
Use sanguine in a Sentence
–adjective
1. cheerfully optimistic, hopeful, or confident: a sanguine disposition; sanguine expectations.
2. reddish; ruddy: a sanguine complexion.
3. (in old physiology) having blood as the predominating humor and consequently being ruddy-faced, cheerful, etc.
4. bloody; sanguinary.
5. blood-red; red.
6. Heraldry. a reddish-purple tincture.
–noun
7. a red iron-oxide crayon used in making drawings.
Origin:
1275–1325; ME sanguyne a blood-red cloth < OF sanguin < L sanguineus bloody, equiv. to sanguin-, s. of sanguis blood + -eus -eous

Related forms:
san⋅guine⋅ly, adverb
san⋅guin⋅i⋅ty, san⋅guin⋅ness, noun

Synonyms:
1. enthusiastic, buoyant, animated, lively, spirited.

Antonyms:
1. morose.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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san·guine   (sāng'gwĭn)   
adj.  
    1. Of the color of blood; red.
    2. Of a healthy reddish color; ruddy: a sanguine complexion.
    3. Having blood as the dominant humor in terms of medieval physiology.
    4. Having the temperament and ruddy complexion formerly thought to be characteristic of a person dominated by this humor; passionate.
  2. Archaic
    1. Having blood as the dominant humor in terms of medieval physiology.
    2. Having the temperament and ruddy complexion formerly thought to be characteristic of a person dominated by this humor; passionate.
  3. Cheerfully confident; optimistic.

[Middle English, from Old French sanguin, from Latin sanguineus, from sanguis, sanguin-, blood.]
san'guine·ly adv., san'guine·ness, san·guin'i·ty n.
Word History: The similarity in form between sanguine, "cheerfully optimistic," and sanguinary, "bloodthirsty," may prompt one to wonder how they have come to have such different meanings. The explanation lies in medieval physiology with its notion of the four humors or bodily fluids (blood, bile, phlegm, and black bile). The relative proportions of these fluids was thought to determine a person's temperament. If blood was the predominant humor, one had a ruddy face and a disposition marked by courage, hope, and a readiness to fall in love. Such a temperament was called sanguine, the Middle English ancestor of our word sanguine. The source of the Middle English word was Old French sanguin, itself from Latin sanguineus. Both the Old French and Latin words meant "bloody," "blood-colored," Old French sanguin having the sense "sanguine in temperament" as well. Latin sanguineus was in turn derived from sanguis, "blood," just as English sanguinary is. The English adjective sanguine, first recorded in Middle English before 1350, continues to refer to the cheerfulness and optimism that accompanied a sanguine temperament but no longer has any direct reference to medieval physiology.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Sanguine

San"guine\, a. [F. sanguin, L. sanguineus, fr. sanguis blood. Cf. Sanguineous.]

1. Having the color of blood; red.

Of his complexion he was sanguine. --Chaucer.

Like to that sanguine flower inscribed with woe. --Milton.

2. Characterized by abundance and active circulation of blood; as, a sanguine bodily temperament.

3. Warm; ardent; as, a sanguine temper.

4. Anticipating the best; not desponding; confident; full of hope; as, sanguine of success.

Syn: Warm; ardent; lively; confident; hopeful.

Sanguine

San"guine\, n. 1. Blood color; red. --Spenser.

2. Anything of a blood-red color, as cloth. [Obs.]

In sanguine and in pes he clad was all. --Chaucer.

3. (Min.) Bloodstone.

4. Red crayon. See the Note under Crayon, 1.

Sanguine

San"guine\, v. t. To stain with blood; to impart the color of blood to; to ensanguine.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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sanguine 
1319, "type of red cloth," from O.Fr. sanguin (fem. sanguine), from L. sanguineus "of blood," also "bloody, bloodthirsty," from sanguis (gen. sanguinis) "blood" (see sanguinary). Meaning "blood-red" is recorded from 1382. Meaning "cheerful, hopeful, confident" first attested 1509, since these qualities were thought in medieval physiology to spring from an excess of blood as one of the four humors.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Main Entry: san·guine
Pronunciation: 'sa[ng]-gw&n
Function: adjective
1 a : consisting of or relating to blood b of thecomplexion : RUDDY
2 : having blood as the predominating bodily humor; also : having the bodily conformation and temperament held characteristic of such predominance and marked by sturdiness, high color, and cheerfulness
Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary, © 2002 Merriam-Webster, Inc.
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sanguine san·guine (sāng'gwĭn)
adj.

  1. Of a healthy, reddish color; ruddy.
  2. Cheerfully confident; optimistic.
  3. Having blood as the dominant humor in terms of medieval physiology.
  4. Archaic Having the temperament and ruddy complexion that was formerly thought to be characteristic of a person dominated by this humor; passionate.

The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
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sanguine

chalk or crayon drawing done in a blood-red, reddish, or flesh colouring. The pigment employed is usually a chalk or clay containing some form of iron oxide. Sanguine was used extensively by 15th- and 16th-century artists such as Leonardo da Vinci (who employed it in his sketches for the Last Supper), Michelangelo, Raphael, and Andrea del Sarto.

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Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.
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