cleanse - Wiktionary, the free dictionary (original) (raw)

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

From Middle English clensen, from Old English clǣnsian, from Proto-West Germanic *klainisōn, from Proto-West Germanic *klainī (“clean”). Cognate with West Frisian klinzgje (“to clean, cleanse”), archaic Dutch kleinzen (“to clean, purify”), Middle Low German klênsen, kleinsen, clensen (“to purify”).

cleanse (third-person singular simple present cleanses, present participle cleansing, simple past and past participle cleansed)

  1. (transitive) To free from dirt; to clean, to purify.
    Synonym: deterge (technical, especially for a wound)
    • 2013 June 1, “A better waterworks”, in The Economist‎[1], volume 407, number 8838, page 5 (Technology Quarterly):
      An artificial kidney these days still means a refrigerator-sized dialysis machine. Such devices mimic the way real kidneys cleanse blood and eject impurities and surplus water as urine.
  2. (transitive) To spiritually purify; to free from guilt or sin; to purge.
    • 1626, William Methold [_i.e._, William Methwold], “Relations of the Kingdome of Golchonda, and Other Neighbouring Nations within the Gulfe of Bengala, Arreccan, Pegu, Tennassery, &c. […]”, in [Samuel] Purchas, Purchas His Pilgrimes. […], 5th part, London: […] William Stansby for Henrie Fetherstone, […], →OCLC, book, page 993:
      [T]he famous Ganges: whoſe vnknowne head, pleaſant ſtreames, and long extent, haue amongſt thoſe Heathen Inhabitants, (by the Tradition of their Forefathers) gained a beliefe of clenſing all ſuch ſinnes, as the bodies of thoſe that waſh therein brought with them: [...]
  3. (transitive) To remove (something seen as unpleasant) from a person, place, or thing.

to spiritually purify — see also purify,‎ purge

cleanse (countable and uncountable, plural cleanses)

  1. An act of cleansing; a purification.
    Synonym: cleansing
    I regularly visit the spa for a massage and a facial cleanse.