▪ I. cleanse, n. Obs. exc. dial.
(klɛnz)
[f. next vb.]
† 1. A cleansing. Obs.
| 1760 Chron. in Ann. Reg. 158/2 We make a thorough cleanse, and wash all the beams with warm vinegar. |
2. dial. The afterbirth (cf. vb. 7).
| 1881 G. F. Jackson Shropsh. Word-bk., Clanse, the afterbirth of a cow. 1881 Leicestersh. Gloss. (E.D.S.) Clans. |
▪ II. cleanse, v.
(klɛnz)
Forms: 1 clǽnsian, clénsian, (ᵹeclásnian, clǽsnian), 2–7 clense(n, (3 clansi, klens, clennsenn (Orm.), 3–5, 9 dial. clanse, 4 clens, clensi, clenze, clenese, 5 clansy), 6– cleanse.
[OE. clǽnsian, clénsian:—WGer. type *klainisôn, f. klaini, OE. clǽne: cf. OE. r{iacu}csian, OHG. rîchisôn to rule, rinse, ON. hreinsa. The frequent ME. and mod. dial. clanse may represent an OE. clánsian (cf. cláne under clean), or it might be from clænsian with shortened æ, as clense from clensian. The mod. spelling cleanse seems to be artificial, assimilated to clean. This is the original vb., on the domain of which the recent to clean has intruded.
The type of verbs in -isôn, -irôn:—OTeut. -isôjan, -izôjan, appears to have started from verbs in -ojan formed on -s stems, as Goth. hatizôn, OHG. agisôn, sigirôn. The OE. ᵹeclásnian, clǽsnian may be examples of metathesis: but the occurrence of a form clǽnsnian, whence they may be contracted, makes their history doubtful.]
1. trans. To make clean, purify, free from dirt or filth (Johnson says ‘by washing or rubbing’). Formerly the ordinary word; but in mod. times to clean has largely taken its place in every-day use, and cleanse remains a more elevated word, having less immediate association with dirt, and more available for fig. and transf. uses. In some dial. clanse is similarly distinguished from clean, and used esp. in senses 5–7.
| a 1000 Laws Ethelred ix. §40 Thorpe I. 348 Gif man eard wille clænsian. a 1225 Ancr. R. 314 Þe poure widewe hwon heo wule clensen hire hus. 1413 Lydg. Pilgr. Sowle iv. xxxiv. (1483) 83 Bras draweth soone ruste yf it be not clensid. 1467 in Eng. Gilds (1870) 372 That intrailles of bestes and blode putts be clansed..by night. 1536 in Thynne Animadv. Introd. 28 He..shall scoure, clense, and substancially make clene all & euery of the Synkes belonginge vnto the kechyns. 1628 Digby Voy. Medit. (1868) 13 Opportunitie to cleanse my shippes. 1738 Birch Milton in Wks. (1738) I. 38 After the Sickness was over, and the City well cleansed..Milton return'd to London. 1808 Med. Jrnl. XIX. 227 A solution of borax was given to cool and cleanse his mouth. 1883 Lloyd Ebb & Flow II. 179 A whole house placed in their hands, to be thoroughly cleansed and repaired. |
| fig. 1850 Merivale Rom. Emp. (1865) II. xiii. 77 It was not by merely removing the scum from the surface that the fountain of justice could be really cleansed. |
| absol. 1477 Norton Ord. Alch. v. in Ashm. (1652) 59 Water clenseth with ablution blive. 1611 B. Jonson Catiline ii. ii. 59 This gray Powder [is] a good Dentifrice..and cleanses very well. a 1862 Buckle Civiliz. III. v. 476 It was better to cleanse than to fast. |
2. To make morally or spiritually clean; to purify or free from sin or guilt. Const. of, from.
| [825 Vesp. Ps. xviii. 13 From deᵹelnissum..ᵹeclasna me dryhten.] c 897 K. ælfred Past. liv. 419 Hi selfe to clænsianne mid ðy wope. c 1200 Trin. Coll. Hom. 87 Þe children were clensed of sinnen. c 1340 Cursor M. 12840 (Fairf.), Goddis lambe þat clense [Trin. clensen] sale þis..werlde fra sinful bale. Ibid. 26373 Þen mai ȝe best ȝou clanse [Cott. clenge] of synne. 1393 Langl. P. Pl. C. iv. 361 Of oure sory synnes asoiled and clansed. c 1440 Gesta Rom. xxiii. 81 (Harl. MS.), I shal go to a confessour, and clansy me. 1548 Prayer-bk., Commun., Cleanse the thoughts of our hearts. 1630 Prynne Anti-Armin. 158 Able to clense the Elect from all their sinnes. 1837 Trench Justin Martyr, You cannot cleanse your heart with tears. |
b. with the sin or crime as obj.: To purge, wash away, expiate.
| 971 Blickl. Hom. 35 Þæt we..ure synna clænsian. 1340 Hampole Pr. Consc. 2400 Syn þat es wele clensed here. a 1700 Dryden (J.), Not all her od'rous tears can cleanse her crime. 1883 Gilmour Mongols xvii. 205 Each prayer repeated has a certain value in cleansing away sin. |
3. To make ceremonially or sanitarily clean: a. ceremonially, as in the Mosaic Law.
| [c 1000 ælfric Exod. xxix. 36 Þu aclænsast {thbar} weofod and ᵹehalᵹast.] c 1000 Laws Edw. & Guthr. in Thorpe I. 174 Clænsie man þa þeode. c 1250 Gen. & Ex. 3453 God dede moyses ðis bodeword on, Clense ðis folc wel ðis to daiȝes. 1382 Wyclif Acts x. 15 That thing that God hath clensid, thou schalt not seie vnclene. 1611 Bible ibid., What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common. |
b. from leprosy or other disease. arch.
| c 1000 Ags. Gosp. Matt. x. 8 Clænsiað hreofle. 1382 Wyclif Matt. x. 8 Vpreyse ȝee dead men, clense ȝe meselis. 1611 Bible Luke vii. 22 The..lepers are clensed. |
† 4. To acquit, clear, or exonerate (of a charge). Obs. (In later times only Sc.; cf. clenge.)
| a 1000 Laws Ethelred iii. §7 in Thorpe I. 296 Gif hwa þeof clænsian wylle. a 1300 Cursor M. 4477 Þu sal be vte of presun tan, And clensid be bifor iustise. c 1568 in H. Campbell Love-lett. Mary Q. Scots (1824) App. 47 April 12..Bothwell wes cleansit werray strangely, as the process beiris. 1637–50 Row Hist. Kirk (1842) 387 The votes being asked, seven did cleanse him absolutelie. |
5. To clear, to rid; properly of, from, († with) things that defile, but it has also been used of things that obstruct, cumber, or merely occupy; cf. to clear.
| a 1250 Owl & Night. 610 Me is lof to Cristes huse, To clansi hit with fule muse. c 1340 Cursor M. 475 (Fairf.), He..clanset þat court of ham so clene. 1387 Trevisa Higden I. 339 (Mätz.), Seynt Patryk clensed þat lond of wormes and oþere venemous bestes. 1557 Order Hospitalls H iiij b, [The Beadle] shall cleanse all the same Wards from beggars. 1624 Capt. Smith Virginia iii. ix. Wks. (Arb.) 460 The house thus cleansed [of Indians], the King..excused this intrusion. 1664 Evelyn Kal. Hort. (1729) 206 Cleanse Vines of exuberant Branches. 1669 Worlidge Syst. Agric. x. §4 (1681) 220 Gold-Finches are very injurious to the Goosbury Buds..cleansing a whole Garden of them immediately. 1860 Tyndall Glac. i. §17. 119 The orb..cleansed the mountains from every trace of fog. 1879 G. F. Jackson Shropsh. Word-bk. Clanse, to clear, to free from impurities or superfluous matter. |
b. To clear of inequalities or unevennesses; to smooth, polish (wood or metal).
| 1677 Moxon Mech. Exerc. (1703) 205 Once wrought to the true size, you cannot afterwards take any more off to cleanse it. |
(In this sense clanse is used by gunsmiths in the midland counties.)
c. To clear out (rubbish, etc.).
| 1628 Prynne Cens. Cozens 32 All Popish Reliques were not so fully clensed out, as afterwards they were. |
6. To free from noxious humours; to purge. Also absol.
| c 1000 Sax. Leechd. II. 240 Hat wæter..þæt clæsnað þa wambe. ― Ibid. 260 Sio wamb biþ to clænsianne. c 1400 Blood-Letting in Rel. Ant. I. 190 Domistica clanseth ful welle The blader within every delle. 1486 Bk. St. Albans C j b, It shall clense wele hir bowillis. 1600 Shakes. A.Y.L. ii. vii. 60, I will through and through Cleanse the foule bodie of th'infected world, If they will patiently receiue my medicine. 1731 Arbuthnot Aliments (J.), This oil..makes it saponaceous and cleansing, by which quality it often helps digestion. 1881 Shropsh. Word-Bk. s.v., A dosa o' camomine tay..ood clanse the stomach. |
7. intr. (for refl.) To pass the afterbirth.
| 1614 Markham Cheap Husb. i. iii. (1668) 35 If your Mare..will not clense after she hath foaled, you shall take a pint of running water, &c. 1884 Chester Gloss. (E.D.S.) s.v. Clanse, A cow is said to clanse when she discharges the placenta after calving. |
▸ Compare Serbian and Croatian očistiti (1942 in this sense in Serbian), probably after a German word (perhaps reinigen or saubern: compare cleansing n.). trans. To purge (a geographical area, a society, etc.) of ethnic or religious minority groups; to remove (members of an ethnic or religious minority) from an area, society, etc., by expulsion or killing. Cf. earlier cleansing n.; also ethnically cleanse v. at ethnically adv. Additions
Freq., as a conscious metaphor, made conspicuous by the use of quotation marks.
| 1946 tr. Doc. 1061-PS in Nazi Conspiracy & Aggression (U.S. Chief Counsel Prosecution of Axis Criminality) III. 733 The main body of our forces were detailed to cleanse..part of the Ghetto by proceeding from South to North. 1947 Amer. Jrnl. Internat. Law 41 288 His subordinates engaged in mass killings of Jews, and his civil administrators in the East considered that cleansing the Eastern Occupied Territories of Jews was necessary. 1981 Polit. Sci. Q. 96 604 The colonels' regime of Pilsudski's epigoni, in its program to polonize the commercial and industrial sectors of the country's economy by ‘cleansing’ them of Jews, also pressed for Jewish emigration. 1991 Daily Tel. 18 Dec. 8/8 The culprits, according to all witnesses, were Serb extremist irregulars, ‘Chetniks’ or ‘White Eagles’ left behind to ‘cleanse’ the area, to borrow the obscene phraseology of Nazi occupation in the Second World War. 1993 Guardian 28 July ii. 7/1 The Palestinians were ‘cleansed’ from their homes and the Jews entered and occupied the land. 1994 Independent on Sunday 17 July 18/3 About 150,000 people have left, most of them Mingrelians, who came originally from Georgia, some fleeing with the retreating Georgians and others ‘cleansed’ out of their homes. |