tinge

The verb is derived from Latin tingere,^[1] present active infinitive of tingō (“to dip; to moisten; to colour, dye, tinge”).

The noun is derived from the verb.^[2]

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /tɪnd͡ʒ/

  • Audio (Southern England):

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• Rhymes: -ɪndʒ

tinge (plural tinges)

1. A small added amount of colour; (by extension) a small added amount of some other thing.

   Synonyms: tincture, teint, teinture (the latter two obsolete)

   • 1790, A[nthony] Fothergill, “Essay I. Experiments and Observations on Cyder-wine, with Remarks on Fruit Liquors, and Hints for Their Improvement.”, in Cautions to the Heads of Families, in Three Essays: […], Bath, Somerset: Printed by R. Cruttwell; and sold by C[harles] Dilly, […]; W. Taylor, […], →OCLC, pages 14–15:

     Though a ſingle grain of copper diſſolved in upwards of twenty gallons of clear water may be detected by a viſible blue tinge appearing on the addition of a few drops of volatile alcali, yet this is by no means the caſe in turbid high-coloured liquors, [...] Hence the neceſſity of diluting ſuch liquors in varying the experiments. In no inſtance did the blue tinge appear with the alcalis, even after the wine was diluted, and yet its abſence does not prove the liquor to be abſolutely free from an impregnation of copper.

   • 1851 November 14, Herman Melville, “The Whiteness of the Whale”, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC, pages 216–217:

     And when we consider that other theory of the natural philosophers, that all other earthly hues—every stately or lovely emblazoning—the sweet tinges of sunset skies and woods; [...] all these are but subtile deceits, [...]

   • 1862, N[orman] A[llison] Calkins, “Classification, Combination, and Description of Colors”, in Primary Object Lessons for a Graduated Course of Development. A Manual for Teachers and Parents, […], 5th revised edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, publishers, […], →OCLC, page 108:

     Crimson—pure red, with a slight tinge of blue, giving it a purplish hue; the common color of red apples. / Scarlet—a bright red, with a slight tinge of yellow.

   • 2001, Ron Kuzar, “The Emergence of Israeli Hebrew”, in Hebrew and Zionism: A Discourse Analytic Cultural Study (Language, Power and Social Process; 5), Berlin, New York, N.Y.: Mouton de Gruyter, →ISBN, page 41:

     The scholarly narratives, which maintain a strong claim for truth, will be shown to display variant versions of the same two basic modernist ingredients, scientism and nationalism (Zionism), enriched with tinges of personal non-scholarly knowledge of other human and social domains, such as political science, sociology, and psychology.

   • 2015, Frederick T. Fraunfelder, Frederick W. Fraunfelder, Wiley A. Chambers, “Part 7: Drug-induced Ocular Side Effects”, in Drug-induced Ocular Side Effects, 7th edition, London: Elsevier Saunders, →ISBN, section 2 (Agents Affecting the CNS), page 101, column 1:

     Color-vision changes are complex with various manifestations, including frosting or white tinges on objects, decreased brightness or specific color loss.

2. The degree of vividness of a colour; hue, shade, tint.
   • 1807 November 26, Everard Home, “II. On the Structure and Uses of the Spleen”, in Philosophical Transactions, of the Royal Society of London, part I, number 446, London: Printed by W[illiam] Bulmer and Co. […]; and sold by G. and W. Nicol, […], and printers to the Royal Society, published 1808, →OCLC, pages 51 and 52:

     [page 51] The following are the results of experiments made with rhubarb, to ascertain the best modes of detecting it in the urine and blood, and the time it takes to pass from the stomach to the urinary bladder. [...] [page 52] In 17 minutes, half an ounce of urine was voided, which when tested had a light tinge. In 30 minutes another half ounce was made, in which the tinge was stronger; and in 41 minutes a third half ounce was made, in which it was very deep. In an hour and ten minutes 7 ounces were voided, in which the tinge of rhubarb was very weak, and in two hours twelve ounces were voided, in which it was hardly perceptible.

tinge (third-person singular simple present tinges, present participle tinging or tingeing, simple past and past participle tinged)

1. (transitive) To add a small amount of colour; to tint; (by extension) to add a small amount of some other thing.

   Synonym: tinct

   • 1658, Felix Würtz, “The Fourth Part. Treating of All Kinds of Balmes, Slaves,^{[sic – meaning Salves]}, Plaisters, Ointments, Oyles, Blood-stenchers, Potions, Tents, Corrosives, &c. which are Used for Wounds, […]”, in The Surgeons Guid: Or Military and Domestique Surgery. […], London: Printed by Gertrude Dawson, and are to be sold by John Garfeild […], →OCLC, page 307:

     [T]he water being ting'd red, cant it off, iterate it ſo long till the Vitriol tingeth the water no more.

   • 1665, R[obert] Hooke, “Observ[ation] X. Of Metalline, and Other Real Colours.”, in Micrographia: Or Some Physiological Descriptions of Minute Bodies Made by Magnifying Glasses. […], London: […] Jo[hn] Martyn, and Ja[mes] Allestry, printers to the Royal Society, […], →OCLC, page 70:

     A Saline liquor therefore, mixt with another ting'd liquor, may alter the colour of it ſeveral ways, either by altering the refraction of the liquor in which the colour ſwims: or ſecondly by varying the refraction of the coloured particles, by uniting more intimately either with ſome particular corpuſcles of the tinging body, or with all of them, [...]

   • 1807, “Mineralogy”, in The New Encyclopædia; or, Universal Dictionary of Arts and Sciences. [...] In Twenty-three Volumes, volume XV, London: Printed for Vernor, Hood, and Sharpe, […]; and Thomas Ostell, […]; R. Morison, printer, […], →OCLC, part II, chapter VII (Class IV. Metallic Ores.), pages 61–62:

     Amalgam of Silver. [...] Colour ſilvery white or grey: Luſtre metallic: Creaks when cut. Sp[ecific] gravity above 10. Tinges gold white.

   • 1823, Greville Ewing, “Appendix. A Vindication of the Explanations, in the Author’s Greek Grammar, and Greek and English Scripture Lexicon, on the Subject of Baptism, in a Letter to the Author, from a Literary Christian Friend.”, in An Essay on Baptism; being an Inquiry into the Meaning, Form, and Extent of the Administration, of that Ordinance. […], Glasgow: Printed at the University Press, for Wardlow and Cunninghame, […], →OCLC, page 198:

     In the following passage from Ælian, (lib. xiv. cap. 30.) βαψας seems to be used for denoting merely tinging or imbuing with perfume. The Persian monarch, says Ælian, στεφανον εις μυζον βαψας, επεπλεκτο δε ζοδων ὁ στεφανος, which I would translate, "having tinged (imbued or impregnated) with precious ointment a crown (or garland),—the crown was woven of roses."

   • 1854 August 9, Henry D[avid] Thoreau, “The Ponds”, in Walden; or, Life in the Woods, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor and Fields, →OCLC, page 214:

     As at Walden, in sultry dog-day weather, looking down through the woods on some of its bays which are not so deep but that the reflection from the bottom tinges them, its waters are of a misty bluish-green or glaucous color.

   • 1855, Robert Browning, “An Epistle Containing the Strange Medical Experience of Karshish, the Arab Physician”, in Men and Women […], volume I, London: Chapman and Hall, […], →OCLC, stanza 4, page 95:

     [N]ot, that such a fume, / Instead of giving way to time and health, / Should eat itself into the life of life, / As saffron tingeth flesh, blood, bones and all!

   • 1860, George Eliot [pseudonym; Mary Ann Evans], “Outside Dorlcote Mill”, in The Mill on the Floss […], volume I, Edinburgh, London: William Blackwood and Sons, →OCLC, book I (Boy and Girl), page 1:

     On this mighty tide the black ships [...] are borne along to the town of St Ogg's, which shows its aged, fluted red roofs and the broad gables of its wharves between the low wooded hill and the river brink, tinging the water with a soft purple hue under the transient glance of this February sun.

   • 1888, William S[amuel] Furneaux, “Lesson VII. The Muscular System.”, in Animal Physiology (Longmans’ Elementary Science Manuals), London, New York, N.Y.: Longmans, Green, and Co., →OCLC, pages 45–46:

     The general character of muscle may well be studied by examining a piece of beef. It is reddish in colour, but this is due to the presence of blood, which circulates through every part of it. If we steep a piece of beef for a very long time in cold water, a large proportion of blood oozes out and tinges the water, leaving the flesh or muscle of a pale whitish colour.

2. (transitive, figuratively) To affect or alter slightly, particularly due to the actual or metaphorical influence of some element or thing.
   • 1812, George Dyer, “Ode X. On the Evening. Addressed to the Late Reverend Mr. Theophilus Lindsey.”, in Poetics: Or A Series of Poems, and of Disquisitions on Poetry, volume I, London: Printed [by J. M‘Creery] for J[oseph] Johnson and Co., →OCLC, stanza 1, page 68:

     Hail! nurse of thought, with brow serene; / Who, as the sun, so wont, retires, / And leaves the sky to milder fires, / Tingest with shadowy forms the fading scene, [...]

   • 1982, Elizabeth Clare Prophet, “America, be on Guard!: Beloved Archangel Uriel: (February 1, 1981)”, in Where the Eagles Gather, volume 24, book 1, [Malibu, Calif.?]: The Summit Lighthouse, →ISBN, page 182:

     For the very intensity of the light is all-consuming and it consumes this very vibration of the liar and his lie tingeing the word, the murderer and his murder tingeing their works!

   • 2007, Kirk Douglas, “Hoops of Steel”, in Let’s Face It: 90 Years of Living, Loving, and Learning, Hoboken, N.J.: John Wiley & Sons, →ISBN, page 26:

     When I think of the love my father never gave me I feel encased in a veil with steel threads. [...] Sometimes a happy thought can make me jump for joy, but I must be careful: if I jump too high, I'll bump into the veil. It doesn't hurt, but it always tinges my joy with sadness.

3. (intransitive) To change slightly in shade due to the addition of colour; (by extension) to change slightly in quality due to the addition of some other thing.
   • 1711 July 13 (Gregorian calendar), [Joseph Addison; Richard Steele et al.], “MONDAY, July 2, 1711”, in The Spectator, number 106; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New Edition, […], volume II, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton & Company, 1853, →OCLC, page 75:

     [H]is virtues, as well as imperfections, are as it were tinged by a certain extravagance, which makes them particularly his, and distinguishes them from those of other men.

     The spelling has been modernized.

   • 1835, [James Mill], “Section IV. Sir James on [Jeremy] Bentham.”, in A Fragment on Mackintosh: Being Strictures on Some Passages in the Dissertation by Sir James Mackintosh, Prefixed to the Encyclopædia Britannica, London: Printed for Baldwin and Cradock, […], →OCLC, pages 240–241:

     Taint is here a metaphorical expression. It means literally something which tinges. "The mean and malignant passions" are therefore, first of all, a substance which tinges. This substance which tinges "will creep."

• tinged (adjective)
• tingent (archaic)
• untinged

• Teign, Itneg, get in, get-in

tinge

1. third-person singular present indicative of tingere

• genti, tigne

tinge

1. second-person singular present active imperative of tingō

• tinga (a-infinitive)

From Old Norse þinga, from Proto-Germanic *þingōną.

tinge (present tense tingar, past tense tinga, past participle tinga, passive infinitive tingast, present participle tingande, imperative tinge/ting)

1. (transitive) to reserve; to place an order on

   Synonym: bestille

2. to subscribe (to a publication)

   Synonym: abonnere

3. to negotiate

• tingar
• tinge på
• tinging

• ting

• “tinge” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

• eting, ginet, geint, ginte, tigne

tinġe

1. Alternative form of tynġe

tinge

1. inflection of tingir:
   1. third-person singular present indicative
   2. second-person singular imperative

Of obscure origin. Compare the adjective tinte (“shaded, shadowed, dyed”).

tinge m (plural tinges)

1. Eurasian eagle owl

• “tinge”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.7, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2023 November 28