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To cleanse, clear, or purify by separating and carrying off whatever is impure, heterogeneous, foreign, or superfluous. "Till fire purge all things new." Milton.

purifying; the act or operation of separating and removing from anything that which is impure or noxious, or heterogeneous or foreign to it; as, the purification of liquors, or of metals.

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.

Rigid purity; the quality of being affectedly pure or nice, especially in the choice of language; over-solicitude as to purity. "His political purism." De Quincey. The English language, however, . . . had even already become too thoroughly and essentially a mixed tongue for his doctrine of purism to be admitted to the…

One who maintains that the New Testament was written in pure Greek. M. Stuart.

The condition of being pure. Specifically:

ning to or designating, a nitrogenous acid contained in uric acid. It is not known in the pure state, but forms well-known purple-red compounds (as murexide), whence its name.

nating, the acid liquid obtained in the distillation of wood, consisting essentially of impure acetic acid.

The act, process, or result (in the process of parting) of alloying a button of nearly pure gold with enough silver to reduce the fineness so as to allow acids to attack and remove all metals except the gold; -- called also inquartation. Compare Parting.

ntaining its rarest virtue, or most subtle and essential constituent in a small quantity; pure or concentrated essence. Let there be light, said God; and forthwith light Ethereal, first of things, quintessence pure, Sprung from the deep. Milton.

Of the nature of a quintessence; purest. "Quintessential extract of mediocrity." G. Eliot.

Any sloping member, other than a purely constructional one, such as a continuous parapet to a staircase.

ual powers; sometimes to express the power of deduction or argumentation. Stewart. By the pure reason I mean the power by which we become possessed of principles. Coleridge. The sense perceives; the understanding, in its own peculiar operation, conceives; the reason, or rationalized understanding, comprehends. Coleridg…

To reduce to a fine, unmixed, or pure state; to free from impurities; to free from dross or alloy; to separate from extraneous matter; to purify; to defecate; as, to refine gold or silver; to refine iron; to refine wine or sugar. I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined. Z…

The button, globule, or mass of metal, in a more or less impure state, which forms in the bottom of the crucible in smelting and reduction of ores.

o cut off; to abrogate; to annul. The blessed Jesus . . . did sacramentally rescind the impure relics of Adam and the contraction of evil customs. Jer. Taylor.

can not be equaled by any region. Sir W. Raleigh. We must be resolved how the law can be pure and perspicuous, and yet throw a polluted skirt over these Eleusinian mysteries. Milton.

Of a pure purpish pink color.

Red as a rose; specifically (Zoöl.), of a pure purplish red color. Chaucer.

Dew from the sea; sea dew. [Obs.] That purer brine And wholesome dew called rosmarine. B. Jonson.