1. (v. t.) To cleanse, clear, or purify by separating and carrying off whatever is impure, heterogeneous, foreign, or superfluous.

2. (v. t.) To operate on as, or by means of, a cathartic medicine, or in a similar manner.

3. (v. t.) To clarify; to defecate, as liquors.

4. (v. t.) To clear of sediment, as a boiler, or of air, as a steam pipe, by driving off or permitting escape.

5. (v. t.) To clear from guilt, or from moral or ceremonial defilement; as, to purge one of guilt or crime.

6. (v. t.) To clear from accusation, or the charge of a crime or misdemeanor, as by oath or in ordeal.

7. (v. t.) To remove in cleansing; to deterge; to wash away; -- often followed by away.

8. (v. i.) To become pure, as by clarification.

9. (v. i.) To have or produce frequent evacuations from the intestines, as by means of a cathartic.

10. (n.) The act of purging.

11. (v. t.) That which purges; especially, a medicine that evacuates the intestines; a cathartic.

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