purge
• verb 1 rid (someone or something) of people or things considered undesirable or harmful. 2 evacuate one’s bowels, especially as a result of taking a laxative. 3 Law atone for or wipe out (contempt of court). • noun 1 an act of purging. 2 dated a laxative. — ORIGIN Latin purgare ‘purify’, from purus ‘pure’.
Perform another search of the Compact Oxford English Dictionary
About this dictionary
The Compact Oxford English Dictionary of Current English contains 145,000 words, phrases, and definitions.
Find out more about Oxford's range of English dictionaries
Sign up for the AskOxford Word of the Day
Search the Little Oxford Dictionary of Quotations
Search the Concise Dictionary of First Names
| 
