Word.ws English Dictionary

purging place

purging place noun: a body part where excess humors are expelled.

Noun

purging place (plural purging places)

  1. (obsolete, premodern medicine) A body part where excess humors are expelled.
    • An aposteme gendred in þe purgynge places [sc. Latin tribus emunctoriis], þat is to say, of þe brayne vnder þe eres, of þe herte vnder þe arme holes, of þe lyuer in the schares.c. 1425, translating Guy de Chauliac as The Grande Chirurgie, p. 154
  2. (obsolete) A place where the body is purged of waste: a latrine; an outhouse; a lavatory.
    • He buylt in all streetes in Rome publique purging places [sc. Spanish latrinas publicas].1577, Antonio de Guevara, translated by Edward Hellowes, Chronicles, page 29
    Synonyms:
    bathroom
  3. (archaic) The place where the soul is purged of sin: Purgatory.
    • Is this, said I, the Papists purging place?1603, Elizabeth Melville, Ane Godlie Dreame, l. 262

Synonyms of purging place

Forms of purging place

pluralpurging places

Origin of purging place

Originally as a calque or translation of various Latin or Spanish terms.

Questions about purging place

What does purging place mean?
Purging place means a body part where excess humors are expelled.
What part of speech is purging place?
Purging place is a noun.
What is the plural of purging place?
The plural of purging place is purging places.

Words near purging place in the dictionary

  1. purging
  2. purging cassia
  3. purging cassias
  4. purging nut
  5. purging nuts
  6. purging place
  7. purging places
  8. purgingly
  9. purgings
  10. Purgitsville
  11. puri

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: purging place (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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