purgations

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...
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

   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...