4. To clear of sediment, as a boiler, or of air, as a steam pipe, by
driving off or permitting escape.
5. To clear from guilt, or from moral or ceremonial defilement; as, to
purge one of guilt or crime.
When that he hath purged you from sin.
Chaucer.
Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean.
Ps. li. 7.
6. (Law) To clear from accusation, or the charge of a crime or
misdemeanor, as by oath or in ordeal.
7. To remove in cleansing; to deterge; to wash away; -- often followed
by away.
Purge away our sins, for thy name's sake.
Ps. lxxix. 9.
We 'll join our cares to purge away Our country's crimes.
Addison.
Purge, v. i. 1. To become pure, as by clarification.
2. To have or produce frequent evacuations from the intestines, as by
means of a cathartic.
Purge, n. [Cf. F. purge. See Purge, v. t.] 1. The act of purging.
The preparative for the purge of paganism of the kingdom of
Northumberland.
Fuller.
2. That which purges; especially, a medicine that evacuates the
intestines; a cathartic. Arbuthnot.
Pur"ger (?), n. One who, or that which, purges or cleanses; especially,
a cathartic medicine.
Pur"ger*y (?), n. The part of a sugarhouse where the molasses is
drained off from the sugar.
Pur"ging (?), a. That purges; cleansing.
Purging flax (Bot.), an annual European plant of the genus Linum (L.
catharticum); dwarf wild flax; -- so called from its use as a cathartic
medicine.
Pur"ging, n. (Med.) The act of cleansing; excessive evacuations;
especially, diarrhea.
Pur"i (?), n. (Chem.) See Euxanthin.
Pu`ri*fi*ca"tion (?), n. [F. purification, L. purificatio. See Purify.]
1. The act of purifying; the act or operation of separating and
removing from anything that which is impure or noxious, or
heterogeneous or foreign to it; as, the purification of liquors, or of
metals.
2. The act or operation of cleansing ceremonially, by removing any
pollution or defilement.
When the days of her purification according to the law of Moses
were accomplished.
Luke ii. 22.
3. A cleansing from guilt or the pollution of sin; the extinction of
sinful desires, appetites, and inclinations.
Pu"ri*fi*ca*tive (?), a. [Cf. F. purificatif.] Having power to purify;
tending to cleanse. [R.]
Pu"ri*fi*ca`tor (?), n. One who, or that which, purifies; a purifier.
Pu*rif"i*ca*to*ry (?), a. [L. purificatorius.] Serving or tending to
purify; purificative.
Pu"ri*fi`er (?), n. One who, or that which, purifies or cleanses; a
cleanser; a refiner.
<! p. 1165 !>
Pu"ri*form (p"r*fÙrm), a. [L. pus, puris, pus + -form: cf. F.
puriforme.] (Med.) In the form of pus.
Pu"ri*fy (-f), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Purified (?); p. pr. & vb. n.
Purifying (?).] [F. purifier, L. purificare; purus pure + -ficare (in
comp.) to make. See Pure, and -fy.] 1. To make pure or clear from
material defilement, admixture, or imperfection; to free from
extraneous or noxious matter; as, to purify liquors or metals; to
purify the blood; to purify the air.
2. Hence, in figurative uses: (a) To free from guilt or moral
defilement; as, to purify the heart.
And fit them so Purified to receive him pure.
Milton.
(b) To free from ceremonial or legal defilement.
And Moses took the blood, and put it upon the horns of the altar, .
. . and purified the altar.
Lev. viii. 15.
Purify both yourselves and your captives.
Num. xxxi. 19.
(c) To free from improprieties or barbarisms; as, to purify a language.
Sprat.
Pu"ri*fy, v. i. To grow or become pure or clear.
||Pu"rim (?), n. [Heb. pr, pl. prm, a lot.] A Jewish festival, called
||also the Feast of Lots, instituted to commemorate the deliverance of
||the Jews from the machinations of Haman. Esther ix. 26.
Pur"ism (?), n. [Cf. F. purisme.] Rigid purity; the quality of being
affectedly pure or nice, especially in the choice of language;
over-solicitude as to purity. "His political purism." De Quincey.
The English language, however, . . . had even already become too
thoroughly and essentially a mixed tongue for his doctrine of
purism to be admitted to the letter.
Craik.
Pur"ist, n. [Cf. F. puriste.] 1. One who aims at excessive purity or
nicety, esp. in the choice of language.
He [Fox] . . . purified vocabulary with a scrupulosity unknown to
any purist.
Macaulay.
2. One who maintains that the New Testament was written in pure Greek.
M. Stuart.
{ Pu*ris"tic (?), Pu*ris"tic*al (?), } a. Of or pertaining to purists
or purism.
Pu"ri*tan (?), n. [From Purity.] 1. (Eccl. Hist.) One who, in the time
of Queen Elizabeth and the first two Stuarts, opposed traditional and
formal usages, and advocated simpler forms of faith and worship than
those established by law; -- originally, a term of reproach. The
Puritans formed the bulk of the early population of New England.
The Puritans were afterward distinguished as Political Puritans,
Doctrinal Puritans, and Puritans in Discipline. Hume.
2. One who is scrupulous and strict in his religious life; -- often
used reproachfully or in contempt; one who has overstrict notions.
She would make a puritan of the devil.
Shak.
Pu"ri*tan, a. Of or pertaining to the Puritans; resembling, or
characteristic of, the Puritans.
{ Pu`ri*tan"ic (?), Pu`ri*tan"ic*al (?), } a. 1. Of or pertaining to
the Puritans, or to their doctrines and practice.
2. Precise in observance of legal or religious requirements; strict;
overscrupulous; rigid; -- often used by way of reproach or contempt.
Paritanical circles, from which plays and novels were strictly
excluded.
Macaulay.
He had all the puritanic traits, both good and evil.
Hawthorne.
Pu`ri*tan"ic*al*ly, adv. In a puritanical manner.
Pu"ri*tan*ism (?), n. The doctrines, notions, or practice of Puritans.
Pu"ri*tan*ize (?), v. i. [imp. & p. p. Puritanized (?); p. pr. & vb. n.
Puritanizing (?).] To agree with, or teach, the doctrines of Puritans;
to conform to the practice of Puritans. Bp. Montagu.
Pu"ri*ty (?), n. [OE. purete, purte, OF. purtÈ, F. puretÈ, from L.
puritas, fr. purus pure. See Pure.] The condition of being pure.
Specifically: (a) freedom from foreign admixture or deleterious matter;
as, the purity of water, of wine, of drugs, of metals. (b) Cleanness;
freedom from foulness or dirt. "The purity of a linen vesture."
Holyday. (c) Freedom from guilt or the defilement of sin; innocence;
chastity; as, purity of heart or of life. (d) Freedom from any sinister
or improper motives or views. (e) Freedom from foreign idioms, or from
barbarous or improper words or phrases; as, purity of style.
Pur"kin*je's cells` (?). [From J. E. Purkinje, their discoverer.]
(Anat.) Large ganglion cells forming a layer near the surface of the
cerebellum.
Purl (?), v. t. [Contr. fr. purfile, purfle. See Purfle.] To decorate
with fringe or embroidery. "Nature's cradle more enchased and purled."
B. Jonson.
Purl, n. 1. An embroidered and puckered border; a hem or fringe, often
of gold or silver twist; also, a pleat or fold, as of a band.
A triumphant chariot made of carnation velvet, enriched withpurl
and pearl.
Sir P. Sidney.
2. An inversion of stitches in knitting, which gives to the work a
ribbed or waved appearance.
Purl stitch. Same as Purl, n., 2.
Purl, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Purled (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Purling.] [Cf.
Sw. porla, and E. pur to murmur as a cat.] 1. To run swiftly round, as
a small stream flowing among stones or other obstructions; to eddy;
also, to make a murmuring sound, as water does in running over or
through obstructions.
Swift o'er the rolling pebbles, down the hills, Louder and louder
purl the falling rills.
Pope.
2. [Perh. fr. F. perler to pearl, to bead. See Pearl, v. & n.] To rise
in circles, ripples, or undulations; to curl; to mantle.
thin winding breath which purled up to the sky.
Shak.
Purl, n. [See 3d Purl.] 1. A circle made by the notion of a fluid; an
eddy; a ripple.
Whose stream an easy breath doth seem to blow, Which on the
sparkling gravel runs in purles, As though the waves had been of
silver curls.
Drayton.
2. A gentle murmur, as that produced by the running of a liquid among
obstructions; as, the purl of a brook.
3. [Perh. from F. perler, v. See Purl to mantle.] Malt liquor,
medicated or spiced; formerly, ale or beer in which wormwood or other
bitter herbs had been infused, and which was regarded as tonic; at
present, hot beer mixed with gin, sugar, and spices. "Drank a glass of
purl to recover appetite." Addison. "Drinking hot purl, and smoking
pipes." Dickens.