purgation

Noun

purgation (countable and uncountable, plural purgations)

1. The process or act of purging, such as by the use of a purgative.
   • […] Lanfrank takes Notice of Tract. 3. Doct. 3. cap. 18. ſaying, "I have ſeen many who being full of Humours, have made an Iſſue under the Knee, before due Purgation had been premis'd; whence, by reaſon of the too great Defluxion of Humours, the Legs tumified, ſo that the cauterized Place...1732, George Smith, Institutiones Chirurgicæ: or, Principles of Surgery, … To which is Annexed, a Chirurgical Dispensatory, …, London: Printed [by William Bowyer] for Henry Lintot, at the Cross-Keys...
   • Seven or eight annual bloodings, and as many purgations — such was the common regimen the theory prescribed to ensure continuance of health[…].1832, The Edinburgh Review, page 470
2. The process or act of cleansing from sin or guilt.
   • Secondly, The branches of Plants have been us'd in religious Purgations or Expiations. In the Moſaical Law there was one general kind of Sacrifice commanded for Purgation, which conſiſted of an Heifer ſacrificed and burnt to Aſhes; with which, and ſpring water, a Lee was made to ſerve for many...1720, Charles Daubuz, A Perpetual Commentary on the Revelation of St. John, page 1030
   • Records concerning the individual purgations, which tell us about the crime of the offender and the date of his release, are much more capriciously registered: four dioceses, or some eight counties, yield only fifty-four examples between 1450 and 1530; out of twenty-four registers eleven have no...1969, Peter Heath, The English Parish Clergy on the Eve of the Reformation, published 2007, page 211

   Synonyms:

   expiation, purification

3. (archaic) Exoneration or the act undertaken to achieve exoneration.
   • Thus do all traitors;
     If their purgation did consist in words,
     They are as innocent as grace itself.
     Let it suffice thee that I trust thee not.c. 1598–1600 (date written), William Shakespeare, “As You Like It”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount...
   • If any man doubt that, let him put me to my purgation.
     I have trod a measure; I have flatt'red a lady; I have been
     politic with my friend, smooth with mine enemy; I have undone
     three tailors; I have had four quarrels, and like to have fought
     one.c. 1598–1600 (date written), William Shakespeare, “As You Like It”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount...