purge
pronunciation
How to pronounce purge in British English:
UK [pɜːdʒ]
How to pronounce purge in American English:
US [pɜːrdʒ]
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- Noun:
- the act of clearing yourself (or another) from some stigma or charge
- an act of removing by cleansing; ridding of sediment or other undesired elements
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- Verb:
- oust politically
- clear of a charge
- make pure or free from sin or guilt
- rid of impurities
- rinse, clean, or empty with a liquid
- eject the contents of the stomach through the mouth
- excrete or evacuate (someone's bowels or body)
Word Origin
- purge (v.)
- c. 1300, "clear of a charge or suspicion;" late 14c., "cleanse, clear, purify," from Anglo-French purger, Old French purgier "wash, clean; refine, purify" morally or physically (12c., Modern French purger) and directly from Latin purgare "cleanse, make clean; purify," especially of the body, "free from what is superfluous; remove, clear away," figuratively "refute, justify, vindicate" (also source of Spanish purgar, Italian purgare), from Old Latin purigare, from purus "pure" (see pure) + root of agere "to drive, make" (see act (n.)). Related: Purged; purging.
- purge (n.)
- 1560s, "that which purges," from purge (v.). Meaning "a purgative, an act of purging" is from 1590s. Political sense from 1730. Earliest sense in English was the now-obsolete one "examination in a legal court" (mid-15c.).
Example
- 1. One is to purge data ; the other is to recover costs .
- 2. Yet the idea that a quick recession would purge the world of past excesses is ludicrous .
- 3. Nor should poland 's new leaders purge competent people in top jobs solely because they were appointed by the old government .
- 4. If you applied this censorious logic , you would also have to purge museums of every gainsborough painting that can be connected with slave-owners .
- 5. Last year mexico 's migration authority had a purge of corrupt officers , and now runs a humanitarian wing which offers help to migrants , whether legal or not .