exorcise
or ex·or·cize
[ek-sawr-sahyz, -ser-]
- to seek to expel (an evil spirit) by adjuration or religious or solemn ceremonies: to exorcise a demon.
- to free (a person, place, etc.) of evil spirits or malignant influences.
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Origin of exorcise
1350–1400; Middle English < Late Latin exorcizāre < Greek exorkízein, equivalent to ex- ex-3 + (h)orkízein to cause (someone) to swear an oath
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for exorcize
Contemporary Examples
Only then can the right potion be discovered to exorcize the ghost of Romney for good.
Ghost of Mitt Romney, Hanging Around Since November, to Appear at CPACDavid Freedlander
February 21, 2013
Historical Examples
"You may exorcize the devils first," the Colonel grimly remarked to the priest, wiping the blood off his sleeves.
WerwolvesElliott O'Donnell
This is the fifth time to-day that the procession goes its round, that the reliquary is borne on high, to exorcize the calamity.
MajestyLouis Couperus
A fear was upon Setne because of Se-Osiris, who answered not, and then he pronounced words that exorcize the ghosts of the dead.
Myths and Legends of Ancient EgyptLewis Spence
exorcize
exorcise
- (tr) to expel or attempt to expel (one or more evil spirits) from (a person or place believed to be possessed or haunted), by prayers, adjurations, and religious rites
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Word Origin
C15: from Late Latin exorcizāre, from Greek exorkizein, from ex- 1 + horkizein to adjure
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for exorcize
exorcise
v.
c.1400, "to invoke spirits," from Old French exorciser (14c.), from Late Latin exorcizare, from Greek exorkizein "banish an evil spirit; bind by oath" (see exorcism).
Sense of "calling up evil spirits to drive them out" became dominant 16c. A rare case where -ise trumps -ize on both sides of the Atlantic, perhaps by influence of exercise. Related: Exorcised; exorcising.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper