Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. The process of applying and rubbing in an ointment.
- n. The act of anointing, as in a religious ceremony.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. The action of anointing; unction; in medicine, the act of rubbing in an ointment or a liniment.
Wiktionary
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. The act of anointing, or the state of being anointed; unction; specifically (Med.), the rubbing of ointments into the pores of the skin, by which medicinal agents contained in them, such as mercury, iodide of potash, etc., are absorbed.
WordNet 3.0
- n. anointing as part of a religious ceremony or healing ritual
Etymologies
- From Latin inunctio, from inunctus, past participle of inungo ("anoint"), from in- + ungo ("anoint") (Wiktionary)
- Middle English, anointing, from Latin inūnctiō, inūnctiōn-, from inūnctus, past participle of inunguere, to anoint : in-, on; see in-2 + unguere, to smear. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“Such an inunction was, in ancient times, as it still continues to be in many modern countries and contemporary religions, a symbol of the setting apart of the thing or person so anointed and consecrated to a holy purpose.”
“I suspected the development of _gummata_ on the meninges of the brain and cord, and advised him to use the inunction cure, and to remain at home until he should be well.”
“If badly swollen, they should be bathed, before inunction, with a decoction of elder-bark and other emollients.”
“In this way remedies are often introduced into the system by what is known as inunction.”
“Since the fats used in soap manufacture yield oleic acid, we will have a certain amount of mercuric oleates formed together with stearate and other salts, and for purposes of inunction these salts might be efficient.”
“The suppliants for aid had to submit to careful purification, to bathe in sea, river or spring, to fast for a prescribed time, to abjure wine and certain articles of diet, and they were only permitted to enter the temple when they were adequately prepared by cleansing, inunction and fumigation.”
“If the patient desires to conceal the fact that he is taking the inunction, wash the parts worked upon and remove every trace of the proceeding.”
“It is astonishing what the inunction of cod-liver oil in connection with the massage will do in some cases of paralysis.”
“As trained nurses are often requested by the attending physician to inunct a patient with blue ointment in this affection, and as the author has seen several cases in which the ` ` inunction '' consisted of merely placing the prescribed quantity in the groin or axilla, he considers it proper to here give the correct method of inunction as recommended by Dr. Sigmund.”
“The new preparation ` ` Mercury-Vasogen '' is now generally used for inunction and it is far superior to the blue ointment as it works in so much quicker and does not leave a disagreeable odor.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘inunction’.
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Specifically
Being a list of words which have "specifically" in their definitions.
recompose, specifically, Dutch, abstinence, discipline, virtue, namely, opening, century, amalgamation, cup, second and 303 more...
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phrontistery - i
from phrontistery.info
iamatology, iamb, ianthine, iatraliptic, iatramelia, iatrarchy, iatrochemistry, iatrogenic, iatrology, iatromathematics, iatrophobia, ibidem and 510 more...
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Free rice 2013.05
habiliment, inunction, mulct, acuminate, paillette, pelerine, pelagic, dudeen, prang, exsiccate
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Henry
mercurial, inunction, Rimbaud, emasculate, solar plexus, feint, asinine, denude
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Ptolemy's Gate
Words and phrases from Jonathan Stroud's book, Ptolemy's Gate.
fall afoul, fleet, tamarisk, krait, inkstone, hotted up, down-market, have a truck with, brio, fatalistic, knock-kneed, conserve and 210 more...
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rememberers
prolix, ageusia, animadversion, anodyne, antic, arabesque, beadle, brachymetropia, colophon, desquamation, diaphoresis, diegesis and 3255 more...
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Cagastric Words
I do love medical history, and medical words, especially the obscure ones, but also some that are just plain fun.
cagastric, caprizant, dree, cacatory, aporrhoea, cataplasm, cicatrix, cicatrizant, surgation, theriac, vulnerary, sthenic and 41 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for inunction.

qroqqa "Spray to inunction the partition slightly treat to fuck the empress to with the Beat to whet."—Victor Mair discusses this charming Chinglish at Language Log. Jul 14, 2010