Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adjective Containing, discharging, or causing the production of pus.
from The Century Dictionary.
- Consisting of pus or matter; full of, resembling, or of the nature of pus; suppurating.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- adjective (Med.) Consisting of pus, or matter; partaking of the nature of pus; attended with suppuration.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adjective medicine Consisting of
pus , or matter; partaking of the nature of pus; attended withsuppuration ; as, purulent inflammation.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- adjective containing pus
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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The process is at first attended with a copious effusion of cerebro-spinal fluid into the arachno-pial space and into the ventricles (_serous lepto-meningitis_), but this fluid tends to become purulent, the pus forming in a thin layer over the surface of the brain, and in the sulci between the convolutions (_purulent lepto-meningitis_).
Manual of Surgery Volume Second: Extremities—Head—Neck. Sixth Edition. Alexander Miles 1893
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-- The pyogenic vibrio, found in the uterus, or which was perhaps already in the body of the mother, since she suffered from chills before confinement, produced metastatic abscesses in the liver and, carried to the blood of the child, there induced one of the forms of infection called purulent, which caused its death.
The Harvard Classics Volume 38 Scientific Papers (Physiology, Medicine, Surgery, Geology) Various
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The pyogenic vibrio, found in the uterus, or which was perhaps already in the body of the mother, since she suffered from chills before confinement, produced metastatic abscesses in the liver and, carried to the blood of the child, there induced one of the forms of infection called purulent, which caused its death.
On the Extension of the Germ Theory to the Etiology of Certain Common Diseases 1909
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When these new vessels are formed, if they are not reabsorbed into the circulation, they secrete a new fluid called purulent matter; which generally opens itself a passage on the external skin, and produces an ulcer, which either gradually heals, or spreads, and is the cause of hectic fever; or they secrete contagious matter, which has the property of exciting the same kind of inflammation, and of producing the same kind of contagious matter, when inserted by inoculation into the skin of other persons.
Zoonomia, Vol. II Or, the Laws of Organic Life Erasmus Darwin 1766
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Sometimes more serious effects such as purulent wound infections and severe pneumonia may occur, requiring hospitalisation and special antibiotics for treatment.
Media Newswire 2008
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These are much swollen, violet in colour and purulent.
Work Camp 10049 GW 2010
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He has been sent back to work before his would healed and now his state is very much worse and his big toe is now one huge purulent wound.
Work Camp 10049 GW 2010
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A third patient, the Camp Leader, had an enormous purulent wound on which had been smeared some useless ointment.
Work Camp 10049 GW 2010
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The liturgical problem is serious, do not listen to the voices of those persons who do not love the Church and who oppose the Pope and if you want to cure the sick then remember that the merciful doctor makes the wound purulent (fa la piaga purulenta).
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At the moment the wound is purulent, the infection is torpid and the flesh around the wound is gangrenous.
Work Camp 10049 GW 2010
frindley commented on the word purulent
Love this word, despite its icky definition and tendency to trip the tongue. See quick for Roger Pearson's wonderful use of it.
October 12, 2008