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May 29, 2014
This week's theme
Miscellaneous words

This week's words
reprehend
gravitas
languid
perfuse
noesis

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with Anu Garg

perfuse

PRONUNCIATION:
(puhr-FYOOZ)

MEANING:
verb tr.:
1. To spread over as a liquid, color, light, aroma, etc.
2. To force a liquid, such as blood, through an organ or tissue.

ETYMOLOGY:
From Latin perfundere (to drench), from per- (through) + fundere (to pour). Ultimately from the Indo-European root gheu- (to pour), which is also the source of funnel, font, fuse, diffuse, gust, gush, geyser, and infundibuliform. Earliest documented use: 1425.

USAGE:
"The heady aroma of strong coffee perfused the cozy kitchen."
Olivia Cunning; Hot Ticket; Sourcebooks; 2013.

"Maybe one small area of her brain wasn't perfused well during the bypass portion of the operation."
Harry Kraus; An Open Heart; David C Cook; 2013.

See more usage examples of perfuse in Vocabulary.com's dictionary.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
Too often we enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought. -John F. Kennedy, 35th US president (1917-1963)

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