SANGUINE • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Sanguine

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/sˈæŋgwɪn/ Listen

adjective

Sanguine adj.

1.

Having the color of blood; red. "Of his complexion he was sanguine." "Like to that sanguine flower inscribed with woe."

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; cheerfully optimistic; not desponding; confident; full of hope; as, sanguine of success; a sanguine disposition.

Synonyms: Warm; ardent; lively; confident; hopeful; optimistic.

noun

Sanguine n.

1.

Blood color; red.

2.

Anything of a blood-red color, as cloth. (Obs.) "In sanguine and in pes he clad was all."

3.

(Min.) Bloodstone.

4.

Red crayon. See the Note under Crayon, 1.

verb

Sanguine v. t. To stain with blood; to impart the color of blood to; to ensanguine.

See images of 'Sanguine'

Etymology of 'Sanguine'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Sanguine" Quotes from Famous Books

... weight was given to this supplication does not appear; probably very little, for the translations were not extended, and as to getting back any part of the copy-money, it is not probable Tonson's most sanguine expectation ever reached that point. Perhaps the songs were thrown in as a make-weight. There was a Fourth Miscellany published in 1694; but to this Dryden only gave a version of the third Georgic, and his Epistle ...

— The Dramatic Works of John Dryden Vol. I. - With a Life of the Author • Sir Walter Scott

... should have been black for that matter, as should your wide-set yellow eyes—you would be a real puzzle to one who did not recognize in you equal mixtures of the fair, stalwart and muscular Slav with the bilious-sanguine, thick-set, wiry Turanian. Your pedigree would no doubt bear me out: there is as much of the Magyar as of the Pole in your anatomy. Athlete, and yet a tangle of nerves; a ferocious brute at bottom, I dare say, for your broad forehead inclines to flatness; ...

— The Lock And Key Library - Classic Mystery And Detective Stories, Modern English • Various

... weighs everything by the same low standard. I saw Father Letheby buoyant, enthusiastic, not merely hopeful, but certain of the success of his enterprise. I saw these two business people chatting and consulting together, and I knew by their looks that they were not quite so sanguine. It was "the ...

— My New Curate • P.A. Sheehan

... and called on God and mercy. He was lifted on high in the strong arms, and whirled across the barrier. The other looked grimly at the falling burden. He wondered if a dog or a goat would have been so long falling. The distance was profound indeed; but to the murderer's sanguine thought the body hung suspended in the air. It would not sink. The clouds seemed to bear it up for testimony; the cold cliffs held aloft their heads for justice; the snow-flakes fell like the ballots of jurymen, voting for revenge—all nature seemed roused to animation by this one ...

— Bohemian Days - Three American Tales • Geo. Alfred Townsend

... over Sunday, and Monday, and Tuesday, which is the last day of my holidays. How will that do? I am glad to hear your book is going through the press, and you will be nearer your proof-sheets here. I have pencils of all colors for correcting in all moods of mind,—red for sanguine moments when one thinks there is some use in writing at all, blue for a modest depression, and black for times when one is satisfied there is no longer an intelligent public nor one reader of taste left in the world. You shall have a room to yourself, nearly as high and quite as easy ...

— A Study Of Hawthorne • George Parsons Lathrop

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