insufflate

verb /ˈɪnsʌfleɪt/

1. To breathe or blow into or on.

   transitive

2. To treat by blowing a gas, vapor, or powder into a body cavity.

   transitive

3. To inhale (a powder etc.).

   transitive

   2001: Cocaine is usually taken by insufflating the white powdered cocaine sulphate into the nose, which leads to rapid absorption of the drug into the bloodstream. — Leslie Iversen, Drugs: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford 2001, p. 98)

4. To exhale upon baptismal water, or the one being baptised, as a ritual act.

   transitive

Where it comes from

First attested in 1670; borrowed from Latin īnsufflātus, perfect passive participle of īnsufflō (see -ate (verb-forming suffix)) from in- + sufflō (“to blow on”). Cognate with French insuffler.

Adapted from the Wiktionary entry insufflate (CC BY-SA 4.0).

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