Purifying

3 definitions found

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

  Purify \Pu"ri*fy\ (p[=u]"r[i^]*f[imac]), v. t. [imp. & p. p.
     {Purified} (p[=u]"r[i^]*f[imac]d); p. pr. & vb. n.
     {Purifying} (p[=u]"r[i^]*f[imac]"[i^]ng).] [F. purifier, L.
     purificare; purus pure + -ficare (in comp.) to make. See
     {Pure}, and {-fy}.]
     1. 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.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. Hence, in figurative uses:
        (a) To free from guilt or moral defilement; as, to purify
            the heart.
            [1913 Webster]
  
                  And fit them so
                  Purified to receive him pure.     --Milton.
            [1913 Webster]
        (b) To free from ceremonial or legal defilement.
            [1913 Webster]
  
                  And Moses took the blood, and put it upon the
                  horns of the altar, . . . and purified the
                  altar.                            --Lev. viii.
                                                    15.
            [1913 Webster]
  
                  Purify both yourselves and your captives. --
                                                    Num. xxxi. 19.
            [1913 Webster]
        (c) To free from improprieties or barbarisms; as, to
            purify a language. --Sprat.
            [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  purifying
       adj 1: serving to purge or rid of sin; "purgatorial rites" [syn: {purgatorial},
               {purging}]
       2: freeing from noxious matter; "filtration is a purifying
          agent" [ant: {adulterating}]
       3: acting like an antiseptic [syn: {cleansing}]

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

  40 Moby Thesaurus words for "purifying":
     abstergent, apologetic, ascetic, atoning, cathartic, cleaning,
     cleansing, compensational, compensatory, depurative, detergent,
     diuretic, emetic, expiatory, expurgatory, lustral, lustrational,
     lustrative, penitential, piacular, propitiatory, purgative,
     purgatorial, purging, purificatory, reclamatory, recompensing,
     redeeming, redemptive, redressing, reparative, reparatory,
     repentant, repenting, restitutional, restitutive, restitutory,
     righting, satisfactional, squaring