sanguine

adj

1. (literary)Having the colour of blood; blood red.
2. (obsolete)Having a bodily constitution characterised by a preponderance of blood over the other bodily humours, thought to be marked by irresponsible mirth; indulgent in pleasure to the exclusion of important matters.

   “What, what, ye sanguine, shallow-hearted boys!”

   “I'll be no longer guilty of this sin; this sanguine coward, this bed-presser, this horse-back-breaker, this huge hill of flesh.”

3. Characterized by abundance and active circulation of blood.

   “a sanguine bodily temperament”

   “Eleonore Lemindre, aged 34, tailoress, of a sanguine lymphatic temperament, having suffered great depression of spirits, experienced, in the course of 1820, symptoms of what is called disease of the heart.”

4. Warm; ardent.

   “a sanguine temper”

5. Anticipating the best; optimistic; confident; full of hope.

   “I'm sanguine about the eventual success of the project.”

   “Mrs. Weston was exceedingly disappointed—much more disappointed, in fact, than her husband, though her dependence on seeing the young man had been so much more sober: but a sanguine temper, though for ever expecting more good than occurs, does not always pay for its hopes by any proportionate depression. It soon flies over the present failure, and begins to hope again.”

   “It was clear that Dr. Gwynne was not very sanguine as to the effects of his journey to Barchester, and not over anxious to interfere with the bishop.”

   “When the railway was opened on August 2, 1897, it was expected that Cruden Bay, on the Aberdeenshire coast, would develop into a popular holiday resort, but this sanguine forecast was never fully realised.”

   “The plan was not feasible, for making a ninety-degree turn would have been impossible without nickel-alloy swivels inserted in the small of every man's back, and Lieutenant Scheisskopf was not sanguine at all about obtaining that many nickel-alloy swivels from Quartermaster or enlisting the cooperation of the surgeons at the hospital.”

6. (archaic)Full of blood; bloody.
7. (archaic)Bloodthirsty.

noun

1. (countable, uncountable)Blood colour; red.
2. (countable, uncountable)Anything of a blood-red colour, as cloth.
3. (countable, uncountable)A tincture, seldom used, of a blood-red colour (not to be confused with murrey).
4. (countable, uncountable)Bloodstone.
5. (countable, uncountable)Red crayon.

verb

1. To stain with blood; to impart the colour of blood to; to ensanguine.