See Also: sanguine(medicine)
sanguine(1)(dictionary)
sanguine(2)(dictionary)
sanguine(dictionary)

sanguine(2) (iou)



sanguine adjective & noun. ME.
[Old & mod. French sanguin(e) from Latin sanguineus: see SANGUINEOUS.]
A. adjective.
a. Blood-red. Also sanguine red. Now only literary, in Heraldry, & in names of animals and plants. ME.
b. Of the complexion: florid, ruddy. L17.
a. Of or pertaining to blood; consisting of or containing blood. Now rare. LME.
b. Causing or delighting in bloodshed; bloody, sanguinary. Now poet. & rhet. E18.
Hist. Having the constitution characterized by the predominance of blood over the other three bodily humours, believed to be indicated by a ruddy face and a brave and hopeful amorous disposition. LME.
Having the temperament attributed to people of this constitution (now Hist.); confident, optimistic. E16.
D. H. Lawrence He was too healthy and sanguine to be wretched. John Brooke A marriage with the King..was beyond her most sanguine expectations. D. Fraser Brooke had not been sanguine about Russian chances of holding out.
b. noun.
(A piece of) blood-red cloth. Only in ME.
A blood-red colour. obsolete exc. Heraldry. LME.
Sanguine constitution or temperament. M16-E18.
A crayon coloured red or flesh with iron oxide; a drawing executed with such a crayon. M19.
sanguinely adverb M17.
sanguineness noun M16.