Cleanse
[klenz] or [klɛnz]
Definition
(verb.) clean one's body or parts thereof, as by washing; 'clean up before you see your grandparents'; 'clean your fingernails before dinner'.
(verb.) purge of an ideology, bad thoughts, or sins; 'Purgatory is supposed to cleanse you from your sins'.
Inputed by Annie--From WordNet
Definition
(v. t.) To render clean; to free from fith, pollution, infection, guilt, etc.; to clean.
Typist: Molly
Synonyms and Synonymous
v. a. Purify, clean, make clean, free from dirt.
Edited by Jeremy
Definition
v.t. to make clean or pure.—adj. Cleans′able.—ns. Cleans′er one who or that which cleanses; Cleans′ing purification.
Checked by Giselle
Examples
- Nay, I, if I would, cannot cleanse you from it. Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell. North and South.
- Cleanse the articles and put them in the solution for from 1/2 to 1 hour. William K. David. Secrets of Wise Men, Chemists and Great Physicians.
- To cleanse use well-made brushes, soft quill, or wood toothpicks, an antacid styptic tooth wash, and precipitated chalk. William K. David. Secrets of Wise Men, Chemists and Great Physicians.
- Mouth washes are a valuable addition to the toilet as they assist to harden and heal the gums, cleanse the mouth and purify the breath. William K. David. Secrets of Wise Men, Chemists and Great Physicians.
- These smearings and scratchings, washings and dashings, being duly performed, the next ceremonial is to cleanse and replace the distracted furniture. Benjamin Franklin. Memoirs of Benjamin Franklin.
- The royal Confessor was endowed by heaven with power to cleanse the ulcers of the body, but only God himself can cure the leprosy of the soul. Walter Scott. Ivanhoe.
- Go down on your knees and pray to God to cleanse your wicked ungrateful heart, Amelia, and may He forgive you as I do. William Makepeace Thackeray. Vanity Fair.
- Cotton, and speculations, and smoke, well-cleansed and well-cared-for machinery, and unwashed and neglected hands. Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell. North and South.
- She could but lick the wounds, and thus she kept them cleansed, that healing nature might the more quickly do her work. Edgar Rice Burroughs. Tarzan of the Apes.
- Beef is slaughtered and cleansed very much in the same manner as the pork described in The Story in a Sausage. Various. The Wonder Book of Knowledge.
- After a bath in the hypo the plate is cleansed in clear running water and left to dry. Bertha M. Clark. General Science.
- With the idea of uncleanness would come ideas of cleansing and of removing a curse. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- While soap is, generally speaking, the best cleansing agent, there are occasions when other substances can be used to better advantage. Bertha M. Clark. General Science.
- But for their usefulness in partially cleansing these terrible streets, they would not be tolerated long. Mark Twain. The Innocents Abroad.
- As a cleansing agent it is valueless. Bertha M. Clark. General Science.
- Who had begun the cleansing of the marble, and who had left it unfinished? Wilkie Collins. The Woman in White.
- I saw her kiss the white cross, then kneel down before the inscription, and apply her wet cloth to the cleansing of it. Wilkie Collins. The Woman in White.
- No bracing critical atmosphere plays about his mind: there are no cleansing doubts and fruitful alternatives. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
- The openness cleanses it. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
Inputed by Darlene