Sanguinate

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To smear, soak or cover something with blood, especially in a violent or gruesome way
2. To make something bloody by spattering or staining it with the blood of a wound or killing
3. Describing the act of coloring or soiling an object or person with blood from injury

Etymology: "Sanguinate" is a late Latin-derived verb meaning to bleed or to stain with blood, built from the Latin "sanguis" ("blood") plus the verb-forming ending "-ate". Its basic structure is transparent, and the same root gives English "sanguine", "consanguineous" and "sanguinary". The Latin root "sanguis" is itself the source of Spanish "sangre" and French "sang". The more useful thing to know is how the verb relates to its near relatives. "Sanguine" entered English from Old French and meant "blood-red" and, through medieval humoral theory, a temperament ruled by an excess of blood, which is why a sanguine person was once cheerful and ruddy rather than hopeful. "Sanguinate" is the more technical cousin, a formal verb that stayed close to its literal sense of drawing or shedding blood, and it is rarely heard outside medical, historical or literary writing.

Synonyms: bleed, hemorrhage