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One who, or that which, purges or cleanses; especially, a cathartic medicine.

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.

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.

Having power to purify; tending to cleanse. [R.]

One who, or that which, purifies or cleanses; a cleanser; a refiner.

Cleanness; freedom from foulness or dirt. "The purity of a linen vesture." Holyday.

A discharge; an issue. [Obs.] To cleanse the quitture from thy wound. Chapman.

hich we call racking), whereby it will clarify much the sooner. Bacon. Rack vintage, wine cleansed and drawn from the lees. Cowell.

of Christ. 1 Peter iv. 14. That this newcomer, Shame, There sit not, and reproach us as unclean. Milton. Mezentius . . . with his ardor warmed His fainting friends, reproached their shameful flight. Repelled the victors. Dryden.

The act of ridding or freeing; deliverance; a cleaning up or out. Thou shalt not make clean riddance of the corners of thy field. Lev. xxiii. 22.

To wash lightly; to cleanse with a second or repeated application of water after washing.

saw (wood) lengthwise of the grain or fiber. Ripping chisel (Carp.), a crooked chisel for cleaning out mortises. Knight. -- Ripping iron. (Shipbuilding) Same as Ravehook. -- Ripping saw. (Carp.) See Ripsaw. -- To rip out, to rap out, to utter hastily and violently; as, to rip out an oath. [Colloq.] See To rap out, u…

formerly brought), used in all sorts of finer grinding and polishing in the arts, and for cleaning metallic substances. The name is also given to other friable siliceous stones applied to like uses.

lesh with the hand; to rub wood with sandpaper. It shall be expedient, after that body is cleaned, to rub the body with a coarse linen cloth. Sir T. Elyot.

An instrument or thing used in rubbing, polishing, or cleaning.

Discolored; stained; not cleanly kept; filthy. The rustly little schooners that bring fire wood from the Brititsh provinces. Hawthorne.

To make free from sin; to cleanse from moral corruption and pollution; to purify. Sanctify them through thy truth. John xvii. 17.

To clean, as the inside of a cannon, by the explosion of a small quantity of powder. Totten.

he soil, without bringing up a fresh surface. You have your scarifiers to make the ground clean. Southey.

To cleanse, as streets, from filth. C. Kingsley.