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purify

[pyoo r-uh-fahy]
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verb (used with object), pu·ri·fied, pu·ri·fy·ing.
  1. to make pure; free from anything that debases, pollutes, adulterates, or contaminates: to purify metals.
  2. to free from foreign, extraneous, or objectionable elements: to purify a language.
  3. to free from guilt or evil.
  4. to clear or purge (usually followed by of or from).
  5. to make clean for ceremonial or ritual use.
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verb (used without object), pu·ri·fied, pu·ri·fy·ing.
  1. to become pure.
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Origin of purify

1250–1300; Middle English purifien < Middle French purifier < Latin pūrificāre. See pure, -ify
Related formspu·ri·fi·ca·tion, nounpu·rif·i·ca·to·ry [pyoo-rif-i-kuh-tawr-ee, -tohr-ee] /pyʊˈrɪf ɪ kəˌtɔr i, -ˌtoʊr i/, adjectivepu·ri·fi·er, nounnon·pu·ri·fi·ca·tion, nounnon·pu·ri·fy·ing, adjectivere·pu·ri·fi·ca·tion, nounre·pu·ri·fy, verb, re·pu·ri·fied, re·pu·ri·fy·ing.self-pu·ri·fy·ing, adjectiveun·pu·ri·fied, adjectiveun·pu·ri·fy·ing, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for purifier

Historical Examples

  • Now fill a glass nearly full of water, and stand the purifier in the glass.

    Electricity for Boys

    J. S. Zerbe

  • Zoroaster was not their founder, but was their reformer, and the purifier of their doctrines.

  • Out of all womankind, she was designed to be my life's playmate and my soul's purifier.

    Kenelm Chillingly, Complete

    Edward Bulwer-Lytton

  • Very different is the saving breath of the great Sea; in itself it is a purifier.

    The Sea

    Jules Michelet

  • Its top is held up by the gas, which comes into it from the purifier.

British Dictionary definitions for purifier

purifier

noun
  1. a device or substance that frees something of extraneous, contaminating, or debasing matter
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purify

verb -fies, -fying or -fied
  1. to free (something) of extraneous, contaminating, or debasing matter
  2. (tr) to free (a person, etc) from sin or guilt
  3. (tr) to make clean, as in a ritual, esp the churching of women after childbirth
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Derived Formspurification, nounpurificatory (ˈpjʊərɪfɪˌkeɪtərɪ), adjective

Word Origin

C14: from Old French purifier, from Late Latin pūrificāre to cleanse, from pūrus pure + facere to make
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 purifier

n.

late 15c., agent noun from purify; as a type of mechanical apparatus, from 1834.

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purify

v.

early 14c., "free from spiritual pollution," from Old French purefier "purify, cleanse, refine" (12c.), from Latin purificare "to make pure," from purus "pure" (see pure) + root of facere "to make" (see factitious). Meaning "free from extraneous matter" is recorded from mid-15c. Related: Purified; purifying.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper