purgation
(pɜːˈgeɪʃən)
Also 6 pour-; 4–6 -acion.
[a. OF. purgacion (12th c. in Hatz.-Darm.), ad. L. purgātiōn-em, n. of action from purgāre to purge.]
The action of purging.
1. The clearing away of impurities; the cleansing of anything from impure or extraneous matter; purification.
| 1412–20 Lydg. Chron. Troy ii. 749 Þat it [sc. the river Xanthus] made a ful purgacioun Of al ordure & fylþes in þe toun. 1564 Brief Exam. ***** iv b, You woulde make a purgation of these thynges. 1612 Woodall Surg. Mate Wks. (1653) 273 Purgation like to separation, is the clarification of impure liquor, having a thick sedement and spume by decoction. 1756 Monitor No. 74 II. 215 Such a total purgation of Augeas's stable..might possibly excite too great a noise. 1809 N. Pinkney Trav. France 237 A century will pass before Lyons will recover itself from this Jacobin purgation. |
b. spec. The discharge of waste matter from the body; excretion or evacuation; now only the evacuation of the bowels, esp. by means of a cathartic; the administration of cathartics; purging.
| c 1375 Sc. Leg. Saints vi. (Thomas) 482 Alsa It is lyk to poycion men takis fore purgacione. c 1386 Chaucer Wife's Prol. 120 Maade for purgacioun Of vryne. 1481 Caxton Myrr. ii. xx. 110 Other waters..the whiche..make grete purgacions to somme peple. a 1548 Hall Chron., Hen. VIII 194 b, For very feblenes of nature caused by purgacions and vomites. 1607 Topsell Four-f. Beasts 426 Purgations is defined by the Physitians, to be the emptiyng or voiding of superfluous humors, annoying the body with their evill quality. 1899 Allbutt's Syst. Med. VIII. 474 Promoting purgation and diuresis. |
† c. Menstruation; pl. catamenia. In quot. 1555 applied to the lochia. Obs.
| 1555 Eden Decades 208 When they are delyuered of theyr children, they go to the ryuer and washe them. Which doone, theyr bludde and purgation ceaseth immediatly. 1577 B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. iv. (1586) 190 b, The roote..is good against..strangurie, and restraint of womens Purgations. 1645–52 Boate Irel. Nat. Hist. (1860) 141 Among the women there are severall found, who do retain not only their customary purgations, but even their fruitfulness, above the age of fifty yeares. 1737 Whiston Josephus i. xix. 30 Rachel..said that her natural purgation hindred her rising up. |
2. Ceremonial or ritual cleansing from defilement or uncleanness; = purification 3.
| 1382 Wyclif Luke ii. 22 Aftir that the dayes of purgacioun of Marie weren fulfild, vp Moyses lawe. 14.. Hymn to Virgin in Tundale's Vis. (1843) 127 The dayes passed of thi purgacion To fullfyll the precept of the law. a 1711 Ken Hymns Evang. Poet. Wks. 1721 I. 63 The All-wise God..Ordain'd Purgation Ritual, to show That nothing Clean cou'd from Uncleanness flow. 1769 Blackstone Comm. IV. xiv. 187 Even the slaughter of enemies required a solemn purgation among the Jews. |
3. Moral or spiritual cleansing; purification by the destruction or removal of sin, guilt, or any evil; freeing from moral defilement or corruption, from the taint of heresy, etc.; spec. in R. C. Ch., the purification of the soul in purgatory.
| 1382 Wyclif Heb. i. 3 The which..makynge purgacioun of synnes, sittith on the riȝthalf vp mageste in hiȝ thingis. c 1450 tr. De Imitatione iii. xxxii. 101 A praier for purgacion of herte and hevenly wisdom. 1482 Monk of Evesham (Arb.) 64 A regyon where the soulys the whiche hadd done her purgacyon in purgatorye ioyfully restyd. 1504 W. Atkynson tr. De Imitatione i. xxiv. 174 The pourgacion therof [from sin] with the fyre of Pourgatory. 1598 R. Barckley Felic. Man vi. (1603) 599 Hierocles saith that religion is the studie of wisdome, consisting in the purgation and perfection of life. 1682 Norris Hierocles 89 The former is effected by the purgation of Opinion. a 1703 Burkitt On N.T., Luke xi. 40 The inward purgation of their hearts and consciences from sin and uncleanness. 1838 Prescott Ferd. & Is. (1846) I. vii. 325 The purgation of the land from heresy. |
4. The action of clearing oneself from the accusation or suspicion of crime or guilt. Obs. exc. Hist.
canonical purgation (i.e. as prescribed by the canon law), the affirmation on oath of his innocence by the accused in a spiritual court, confirmed by the oaths of several of his peers. vulgar purgation, a test by the ordeal of fire or water, or by wager of battle.
| [c 1325 Mirac. St. Willelmi in Hist. Ch. York (Rolls) II. 542 Adjudicata fuit et purgatio ferri candentis, secundum consuetudinem regni.] ? c 1400 Ploughman's Tale 342 If a man be falsly famed, And wolde make purgacioun. 1494 Fabyan Chron. vi. ccx. (1516) 130 b/2 She [Queen Emma] was blyndefelde and lad vnto the place bytwene .ii. men, where y⊇ Iron laye glowynge hote, and passed the .ix. sharys vnhurte. Than at laste she sayd good Lorde, whan shall I come to the place of my purgacion? 1545 Reg. Privy Council Scot. I. 9 [To] mak his purgatioun of the suspicioun that tha have aganis him. 1600 Shakes. A.Y.L. v. iv. 45 If any man doubt that, let him put mee to my purgation. 1611 ― Wint. T. iii. ii. 7 We..Proceed in Iustice, which shall haue due course, Euen to the Guilt, or the Purgation. 1637 Cowell Interpr. s.v., Purgation is either Canonicall or vulgar. 1657 Ld. Strickland in Burton's Diary (1828) II. 149 [He] said indeed it was more than the Inquisition, which puts a man upon his own purgation. 1768 Blackstone Comm. III. xxii. 342. 1788 Priestley Lect. Hist. v. xlviii. 361 The oath of purgation was substituted in the place of battle. 1868 Freeman Norm. Conq. II. App. H 695 If she [Queen Emma] will make a double purgation, if she will walk over four burning shares for herself, and five for the Bishop, her innocence shall be allowed. |
† 5. An agent or means of purging or cleansing. a. An aperient medicine; a purgative. Obs.
| 14.. in Rel. Ant. I. 195 The body most purget ben..wyth summe gode purgacion That is of hot complexion. 1527 Andrew Brunswyke's Distyll. Waters D j, After that they shall take a stronge purgacyon. 1542 J. Heywood Prov. (1867) 33 Ye would..geue me a purgacion. But I am laxatiue inough. 1697 Phil. Trans. XIX. 403 She Recovered by Emetiques and Purgations. |
† b. That which cleanses from sin or defilement, or from anything evil or noxious. Obs.
| a 1533 Frith Answ. to Gardiner Wks. (1573) 55 But our perfite purgation is the pure bloud of Christ. 1581 Mulcaster Positions xliii. 275 To giue schooles a purgation to voide them of some great inconueniences. |
6. attrib., as purgation-house: see quot.
| 1642 Davenant Unfort. Lovers i. i. (1643) 4 The Lady..was Arrested..by the Officers Of the Purgation house, and thither sent To suffer for unchastity. Ibid. 6 The new purgation house, where witnesses Have severally depos'd she was unchaste. |