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purgation

[pur-gey-shuh n]
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noun
  1. the act of purging.
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Origin of purgation

1325–75; Middle English purgacioun (< Anglo-French) < Latin pūrgātiōn- (stem of pūrgātiō) a cleansing, purging, equivalent to pūrgāt(us) (past participle of pūrgāre to make clean or pure, derivative of pūrus pure) + -iōn- -ion
Related formsnon·pur·ga·tion, nounsu·per·pur·ga·tion, noun
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for purgation

Historical Examples

  • Thus we have made a purgation of music, and will now make a purgation of metres.

    The Republic

    Plato

  • Fra Battista was to stand on the rood-step to make his purgation.

    Little Novels of Italy

    Maurice Henry Hewlett

  • This way of Purgation is of the same nature with the old Ordeals of the Pagans.

  • What is understood by ‘purgation’ is not simply a mere form of words.

    Atrocious Judges

    John Campbell, Baron Campbell

  • But apparently when you are put to your purgation it is most emphatically otherwise.

British Dictionary definitions for purgation

purgation

noun
  1. the act of purging or state of being purged; purification
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Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for purgation

n.

late 14c., "purification from sin," also "discharge of waste," from Old French purgacion "a cleansing," medical or spiritual (12c., Modern French purgation) and directly from Latin purgationem (nominative purgatio) "a cleansing, purging," figuratively "an apology, justification," noun of action from past participle stem of purgare (see purge (v.)).

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
purgation in Medicine

purgation

(pûr-gā′shən)
n.
  1. Evacuation of the bowels through the use of a purgative medicine.
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The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.