[‘ With reference to a bloodletting procedure: to the point at which the patient feels faint or faints (from loss of blood).']
Pronunciation: Brit. /ˌad dᵻˈlɪkwɪəm/, U.S. /ˌæd dəˈlɪkwiəm/
Etymology: < post-classical Latin /ad deliquium/ to unconsciousness (1537 or earlier) < classical Latin /ad/ (see ad- prefix) + /dēliquium/ deliquium n.1, in post-classical Latin sense ‘fainting’ (/a/1536).
Post-classical Latin /deliquium/ fainting, is short for deliquium animi, lit. failing of the mind, after ancient Greek /λιποθυμία/, λιποψυχία, in the same sense (both in Hippocrates).
Now hist.
With reference to a bloodletting procedure: to the point at which the patient feels faint or faints (from loss of blood).
In quot. 1882 as part of an extended metaphor.
1698 J. Fryer /New Acct. E.-India & Persia/ iv. ii. 151 The Physicians here are great Bleeders, insomuch that they exceed often Galen’s advice, ad deliquium, in Fevers.
1770 A. Tolver /Present State Midwifery Paris/ 39 Bleeding, ad deliquium, seems the most certain method to abate the contraction.
1882 /Punch/ 11 Nov. 217/1 Bleeding to the amount of from £500 to £600. This in many cases is bleeding them ad deliquium, as the Doctors used to prescribe in the good old days of venesection. To fainting, Sir.
1931 /Brit. Med. Jrnl./ 14 Nov. 908/1 The physician always recommended the quantity of blood to be taken away in a stated number of ounces, unless it was ‘ad deliquium’.
1998 J. Murphy-Lawless /Reading Birth & Death/ 127 Margaret Grant then went through this regime for a second time, being bled ‘ad deliquium’, that is until she fainted.