Perfused

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To thoroughly penetrate and spread evenly within a medium through the infusion of a fluid
2. To be completely filled with liquid that spreads throughout a substance
3. Describes a condition where fluid is distributed evenly inside an object or tissue

Etymology: "Perfused" is the past tense and past participle of "perfuse," a verb that arrived in English in the 1520s from the Latin "perfusus," the past participle of "perfundere," meaning "to pour over" or "to besprinkle." The Latin verb combines "per-," meaning "through" or "thoroughly," with "fundere," "to pour." The root behind "fundere" is an ancient one: it traces to a nasalised form of a prehistoric root meaning "to pour," which also gave Latin "fundere" and, through a different path, English "found" in the sense of melting metal and pouring it into a mould. The same root sits inside "diffuse" and "suffuse," which spread a liquid or colour outward from a centre rather than soaking through an object. Its sense of thorough saturation came from the prefix. "Per-" intensified the pouring, so to perfuse something was to pour liquid over or through it until it was completely wet, a meaning that later carried into physiology, where blood or fluid is pumped through an organ or tissue.

Synonyms: saturated, soaked, imbued, permeated, infiltrated

Antonyms: drained, deprived, dried, emptied, excluded