Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun The process of applying and rubbing in an ointment.
  • noun The act of anointing, as in a religious ceremony.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The action of anointing; unction; in medicine, the act of rubbing in an ointment or a liniment.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun 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.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun The anointing or rubbing in of oil or balm.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun anointing as part of a religious ceremony or healing ritual

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English, anointing, from Latin inūnctiō, inūnctiōn-, from inūnctus, past participle of inunguere, to anoint : in-, on; see in– + unguere, to smear.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin inunctio, from inunctus, past participle of inungo ("anoint"), from in- + ungo ("anoint")

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word inunction.

Examples

  • In this way remedies are often introduced into the system by what is known as inunction.

    The Art of Living in Australia 2004

  • 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.

    The Symbolism of Freemasonry Albert G. Mackey

  • If badly swollen, they should be bathed, before inunction, with a decoction of elder-bark and other emollients.

    Gilbertus Anglicus Medicine of the Thirteenth Century Henry Ebenezer Handerson

  • In this way remedies are often introduced into the system by what is known as inunction.

    The Art of Living in Australia ; together with three hundred Australian cookery recipes and accessory kitchen information by Mrs. H. Wicken Philip E. Muskett

  • 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.

    Scientific American Supplement, No. 561, October 2, 1886 Various

  • 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.

    The Electric Bath George M. Schweig

  • 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.

    The Evolution of Modern Medicine 1921

  • 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.

    Massage and the Original Swedish Movements 1918

  • It is astonishing what the inunction of cod-liver oil in connection with the massage will do in some cases of paralysis.

    Massage and the Original Swedish Movements 1918

  • 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.

    Massage and the Original Swedish Movements 1918

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.

  • "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.

    July 14, 2010