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An instrument for estimating the purity or richness of milk, as a measuring glass, a specific gravity bulb, or other apparatus.

Twinkling or gleaming; fickering. "The lambent purity of the stars." W. Irving.

The Latin tongue, style, or idiom, or the use thereof; specifically, purity of Latin style or idiom. "His eleLatinity." Motley.

The state of being unused or uncontaminated; freshness; purity. [Obs.] The maidenhead of their credit. Sir H. Wotton.

To deprive of purity by mixture; to contaminate. A mingled, imperfect virtue. Rogers.

Natural delicacy or shame regarding personal charms and the sexual relation; purity of thought and manners; due regard for propriety in speech or action. Her blush is guiltiness, not modesty. Shak. Modesty piece, a narrow piece of lace worn by women over the bosom. [Obs.] Addison.

lave the hair uncut, to abstain from wine and strong drink, and to practice extraordinary purity of life and devotion, the obligation being for life, or for a certain time. The word is also used adjectively.

astity or modesty; expressing of presenting to the mind or view something which delicacy, purity, and decency forbid to be exposed; impure; as, obscene language; obscene pictures. Words that were once chaste, by frequent use grew obscene and uncleanly. I. Watts.

That quality in words or things which presents what is offensive to chasity or purity of mind; obscene or impure lanquage or acts; moral impurity; lewdness; obsceneness; as, the obscenity of a speech, or a picture. Mr.Cowley asserts plainly, that obscenity has no place in wit. Dryden. No pardon vile obscenity should fi…

An instrument for ascertaining the weight and purity of oil; an elaiometer.

That which taints or destroys moral purity or health; as, the poison of evil example; the poison of sin. Poison ash. (Bot.) (a) A tree of the genus Amyris (A. balsamifera) found in the West Indies, from the trunk of which a black liquor distills, supposed to have poisonous qualities. (b) The poison sumac (Rhus venenata…

ng, or the state of being polluted (in any sense of the verb); defilement; uncleanness; impurity.

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 aims at excessive purity or nicety, esp. in the choice of language. He [Fox] . . . purified vocabulary with a scrupulosity unknown to any purist. Macaulay.

racteristics of his [Cobbett's] style were perspicuity, unequaled and inimitable; . . . a purity always simple, and raciness often elegant. London Times.

Corrected; amended; restored to purity or excellence; said, specifically, of the whole body of Protestant churches originating in the Reformation. Also, in a more restricted sense, of those who separated from Luther on the doctrine of consubstantiation, etc., and carried the Reformation, as they claimed, to a higher po…

Restoration to an original state; renewal of purity. [R.] R. Browning.

Not enduring proof or trial; not of standard purity or fineness; disallowed; rejected. [Obs.] Reprobate silver shall men call them, because the Lord hath rejected them. Jer. vi. 30.

The quality or state of being righteous; holiness; purity; uprightness; rectitude.

The state or quality of being sacred or holy; holiness; saintliness; moral purity; godliness. To sanctity she made no pretense, and, indeed, narrowly escaped the imputation of irreligion. Macaulay.