Purify
['pjʊərɪfaɪ] or ['pjʊrɪfaɪ]
Definition
(verb.) remove impurities from, increase the concentration of, and separate through the process of distillation; 'purify the water'.
(verb.) make pure or free from sin or guilt; 'he left the monastery purified'.
(verb.) become clean or pure or free of guilt and sin; 'The hippies came to the ashram in order to purify'.
Inputed by Addie--From WordNet
Definition
(v. t.) 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.
(v. t.) Hence, in figurative uses: (a) To free from guilt or moral defilement; as, to purify the heart.
(v. t.) To free from ceremonial or legal defilement.
(v. t.) To free from improprieties or barbarisms; as, to purify a language.
(v. i.) To grow or become pure or clear.
Editor: Nita
Synonyms and Synonymous
v. a. [1]. Clear, clean, cleanse, clarify, purge, free from impurity, make pure.[2]. Defecate (as liquors).
Checker: Scott
Synonyms and Antonyms
[See PURGE]
Inputed by Alisa
Definition
v.t. to make pure: to cleanse from foreign or hurtful matter: to free from guilt or uncleanness: to free from improprieties or barbarisms as language.—v.i. to become pure:—pa.t. and pa.p. pū′rifīed.—n. Purificā′tion act of purifying: (B.) the act of cleansing ceremonially by removing defilement: a cleansing of the soul from moral guilt or defilement: a crushing of desire after anything evil: the pouring of wine into the chalice to rinse it after communion the wine being then drunk by the priest.—adj. Pū′rificātive.—n. Pū′rificātor.—adj. Pū′rificātory tending to purify or cleanse.—n. Pū′rifier.—Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary a feast observed in the R.C. Church on February 2d in commemoration of the purification of the Virgin Mary according to the Jewish ceremonial (Lev. xii. 2) forty days after the birth of Christ.
Edited by Horace
Examples
- 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.
- It honours the lips it crosses, and I wish to the gods it may purify them. Charlotte Bronte. Shirley.
- Because of this fact, it is possible to purify water in a very simple way. Bertha M. Clark. General Science.
- Standing upon the prestige which that gives he must guide and purify the social demands he finds at work. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
- The gas, when purified, is conveyed to the gas-holder, whence it is forced by pressure into the mains and pipes. Frederick C. Bakewell. Great Facts.
- Why should he suppose it necessary to be purified by suffering for his holiday clothes? Charles Dickens. Great Expectations.
- There was a real sustained attempt to unite all Christendom under a purified and reorganized church. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- The melted purified iron falling to the bottom was drawn off through a hole tapped in the furnace, and the molten metal ran into channels in a bed of sand called the Sow and pigs. William Henry Doolittle. Inventions in the Century.
- The air must first be purified and dried. Various. The Wonder Book of Knowledge.
- My very shoes and stockings were purified and rendered presentable. Charlotte Bronte. Jane Eyre.
- It establishes a purified medium of action. John Dewey. Democracy and Education.
- The method of purifying by lime was introduced by Mr. Clegg; and by a later process, oxide of iron is used to absorb the sulphuretted hydrogen. Frederick C. Bakewell. Great Facts.
- The nose is provided with small hairs and a moist inner membrane which serve as filters in removing solid particles from the air, and in thus purifying it before its entrance into the lungs. Bertha M. Clark. General Science.
- The effects of purifying cold were immediately felt; and the lists of mortality abroad were curtailed each week. Mary Shelley. The Last Man.
- He purifies more than Salvarsan. Hemingway, Ernest. For Whom The Bell Tolls.
- I had brought over a few curiosities, among which the principal was a purse made of the _asbestos_, which purifies by fire. Benjamin Franklin. Memoirs of Benjamin Franklin.
- Fumigation with the acid purifies the air and walls of closed rooms. William K. David. Secrets of Wise Men, Chemists and Great Physicians.
- Thus fire purifies water all the world over. Benjamin Franklin. Memoirs of Benjamin Franklin.
Checker: Lowell