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transfuse

American  
[trans-fyooz] / trænsˈfjuz /

verb (used with object)

  • transfuses,
    present (3rd person singular)
  • transfused,
    past participle,  past
  • transfusing
    present participle
  1. to transfer or pass from one to another; transmit; instill.

    to transfuse a love of literature to one's students.

  2. to diffuse into or through; permeate; infuse.

  3. Medicine/Medical.

    1. to transfer (blood) into the veins or arteries of a person or animal.

    2. to inject, as a saline solution, into a blood vessel.

  4. Archaic. to pour from one container into another.


transfuse British  
/ trænsˈfjuːz /

verb

  1. to permeate or infuse

    a blush transfused her face

    1. to inject (blood, etc) into a blood vessel

    2. to give a transfusion to (a patient)

  2. rare to transfer from one vessel to another, esp by pouring

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

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Etymology

Origin of transfuse

1375–1425; late Middle English transfusen < Latin trānsfūsus , past participle of trānsfundere to transfer by pouring. See trans-, fuse 2

Explanation

To transfuse is to transfer blood from one person to another. If a vampire offers to transfuse your blood, say no and wait for the nurse. To transfuse also refers to instilling less physical things in people, like enthusiasm. If you've ever lost blood, you may have needed a transfusion: blood from someone else pumped into you. When a doctor or nurse performs a transfusion, they're transfusing you. This word applies to other situations where something is being passed along. A good coach can transfuse confidence to their team. Teachers transfuse knowledge and skill. This kind of transfusing is usually a gradual process; transfusing blood is quicker.

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Vocabulary lists containing transfuse

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

An emergency investigational new drug, or e-IND, authorization is required to transfuse convalescent plasma into patients, but not to collect it from donors or distribute it.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 2, 2020

If our health care workers are compromised, they cannot transfuse.

From Salon ● Mar. 15, 2020

But type O cells lack these antigens, making it possible to transfuse that blood type into anyone.

From Science Magazine ● Jun. 10, 2019

“But when you do dog to cat or pigeon to parrot, their bodies recognize those blood cells as foreign, and the next time you transfuse the animal will go into shock.”

From Slate ● Jun. 22, 2018

They had to transfuse several units of red cells— How will I tell Soraya?

From "The Kite Runner" by Khaled Hosseini

It may also be possible to design gene therapy to help patients make these antibodies themselves, or use an older technique that transfuses the antibodies directly.

From Reuters ● Jul. 8, 2010

The evaporation from the surface of a stick should not exceed the rate at which the moisture transfuses from the interior to the surface.

From Seasoning of Wood by J. B. (Joseph Bernard) Wagner

Every citizen of the United States transfuses his attachment to his little republic in the common store of American patriotism.

From Democracy in America — Volume 1 by Henry Reeves

The whole soul and body of the man were filled and suffused by the glow that transfuses the blood of the schoolboy at the end of the term.

From The Literary Sense by E. (Edith) Nesbit

The difficulty imposed in drying, however, is not so much the additional heat required as it is in the rate at which the water transfuses through the solid wood.

From Seasoning of Wood by J. B. (Joseph Bernard) Wagner

If an AnWj negative person develops antibodies against AnWj and then receives AnWj positive blood, those antibodies can attack the transfused red blood cells.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 19, 2026

Modified stem cells are then transfused back into the body, where they multiply and increase the production of stable, well-functioning red cells.

From BBC ● Jan. 30, 2025

Dozens of additional units may have to be transfused if bleeding continues or worsens, he added.

From New York Times ● Jun. 15, 2024

Waking in the ICU, she learned she had been transfused several units of blood.

From Scientific American ● Jul. 21, 2023

The poet has moulded his thought and feeling into these forms and transfused them with his own imagery and individuality.

From Special Method in the Reading of Complete English Classics In the Grades of the Common School by Charles A. (Charles Alexander) McMurry

"I crossed my fingers that I was going to be legally safe, saving these patients' lives by taking them to the operating room and treating their ectopic pregnancy and transfusing blood as needed," Huntsberger said.

From Salon ● Jun. 30, 2023

“This is really just to stop the bleed of losing our nurses to other states and other areas, and now we can start transfusing and really start to build on it.”

From Seattle Times ● Sep. 2, 2022

Not everyone, however, is invested in transfusing mature hemoglobins and are instead harnessing the flexibility of stem cells.

From Washington Post ● Apr. 16, 2022

The only thing I didn’t like about Near Dark at the time was its ending: Caleb vanquishes Jesse and Severen and manages to reverse the vampirism afflicting him and Mae by transfusing his father’s blood.

From Slate ● Oct. 2, 2017

Galton tried transfusing rabbits with the blood of other rabbits to transmit the gemmules.

From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee

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