Cleansing

3 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Cleanse \Cleanse\ (kl[e^]nz), v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Cleansed}
     (kl[e^]nzd); p. pr. & vb. n. {Cleansing}.] [AS. cl[=ae]nsian,
     fr. cl[=ae]ne clean. See {Clean}.]
     To render clean; to free from fith, pollution, infection,
     guilt, etc.; to clean.
     [1913 Webster]


  
           If we walk in the light . . . the blood of Jesus Christ
           his son cleanseth us from all sin.       --1 John i. 7.
     [1913 Webster]
  
           Can'st thou not minister to a mind diseased,
           And with some sweet oblivious antidote
           Cleanse the suffed bosom of that perilous stuff
           Which weighs upon the heart?             --Shak.
     [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  cleansing
       adj 1: cleansing the body by washing; especially ritual washing of
              e.g. hands; "ablutionary rituals" [syn: {ablutionary}]
       2: acting like an antiseptic [syn: {purifying}]
       n : the act of making something clean; "he gave his shoes a good
           cleaning" [syn: {cleaning}, {cleanup}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  87 Moby Thesaurus words for "cleansing":
     abstergent, abstersion, alleviating, alleviative, analgesic,
     anesthetic, anodyne, apologetic, ascetic, assuasive, atoning,
     balmy, balsamic, benumbing, bowdlerization, catharsis, cathartic,
     cleaning, compensational, compensatory, deadening, deliverance,
     demulcent, depurative, detergent, detersion, discharge, diuretic,
     dry cleaning, dulling, easing, emetic, emollient,
     emotional release, expiatory, expurgation, expurgatory, freeing,
     intermission, lenitive, lustral, lustration, lustrational,
     lustrative, mitigating, mitigative, numbing, pain-killing,
     palliative, penitential, piacular, propitiatory, purgation,
     purgative, purgatorial, purge, purging, purification, purificatory,
     purifying, reclamatory, recompensing, redeeming, redemptive,
     redressing, release, relieving, remedial, removal, reparative,
     reparatory, repentant, repenting, reprieve, respite, restitutional,
     restitutive, restitutory, righting, satisfactional, softening,
     soothing, squaring, steam cleaning, subduing, surcease,
     suspension