To stain or cover with blood; to make bloody or bloodstained.
From Old French ensanguiner, composed of en- (to cause to be) + sanguine (blood-related, from Latin sanguis meaning blood). The prefix en- combined with the adjective sanguine to create a verb meaning to make bloody.
This archaic verb reveals how English borrowed the Latin word 'sanguis' (blood) and transformed it through French—we still see this root in 'sanguine' (optimistic, oddly enough, because blood was associated with a positive temperament) and 'sanguinary' (bloodthirsty). Medieval and Shakespeare-era writers loved this word for dramatic effect.
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