Pollute

4 definitions found

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

  Pollute \Pol*lute"\, a. [L. pollutus.]
     Polluted. [R.] --Milton.
     [1913 Webster]

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



  Pollute \Pol*lute"\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Polluted}; p. pr. &
     vb. n. {Polluting}.] [L. pollutus, p. p. of polluere to
     defile, to pollute, from a prep. appearing only in comp. +
     luere to wash. See {Position}, {Lave}.]
     1. To make foul, impure, or unclean; to defile; to taint; to
        soil; to desecrate; -- used of physical or moral
        defilement.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              The land was polluted with blood.     --Ps. cvi. 38
        [1913 Webster]
  
              Wickedness . . . hath polluted the whole earth. --2
                                                    Esd. xv. 6.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. To violate sexually; to debauch; to dishonor.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     3. (Jewish Law) To render ceremonially unclean; to disqualify
        or unfit for sacred use or service, or for social
        intercourse.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              Neither shall ye pollute the holy things of the
              children of Israel, lest ye die.      --Num. xviii.
                                                    32.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              They have polluted themselves with blood. --Lam. iv.
                                                    14.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     Syn: To defile; soil; contaminate; corrupt; taint; vitiate;
          debauch; dishonor; ravish.
          [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  pollute
       v : make impure; "The industrial wastes polluted the lake" [syn:
            {foul}, {contaminate}]

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

  128 Moby Thesaurus words for "pollute":
     abuse, adulterate, afflict, aggrieve, alloy, bastardize, befoul,
     benasty, bewitch, blight, booze up, boozify, canker, cheapen,
     coarsen, condemn, confound, contaminate, convert, corrupt, crock,
     crucify, curse, cut, damage, debase, debauch, defalcate, defile,
     deflower, degenerate, degrade, denaturalize, denature, deprave,
     desecrate, despoil, destroy, devalue, dilute, dirty, disadvantage,
     disserve, distort, distress, divert, do a mischief, do evil,
     do ill, do wrong, do wrong by, doctor, doctor up, doom, embezzle,
     envenom, fortify, foul, fuddle, get into trouble, harass, harm,
     hex, hurt, impair, infect, injure, jinx, lace, maladminister,
     maltreat, menace, mess, mess up, misapply, misappropriate,
     misemploy, mishandle, mismanage, mistreat, misuse, molest, nasty,
     outrage, overtake, peculate, persecute, pervert, pickle, pilfer,
     plaster, play havoc with, play hob with, poison, prejudice,
     profane, prostitute, ravage, ravish, savage, scathe, soil, souse,
     spike, spoil, stain, stew, stone, sully, swack, taint, tamper with,
     tarnish, threaten, tipsify, torment, torture, twist, ulcerate,
     violate, vitiate, vulgarize, warp, water, water down, wound,
     wreak havoc on, wrong