| 释义 |
purification|ˌpjʊərɪfɪˈkeɪʃən|
[a. F. purification (12th c. in Hatz.-Darm.), or ad. L. pūrificātiōn-em (Pliny), n. of action from pūrificāre to purify.]
The action or process of purifying.
1. Freeing from dirt or defilement; cleansing; separation of dross, dregs, refuse, or other debasing or deteriorating matter, so as to obtain the substance in a pure condition.
1598Florio, Purificatione, a purification, a clensing, a scouring, a clearing. 1651French Distill. i. 11 Purification, is a separation of any Liquor from its feces. 1661Boyle Unsuccessfulness of Exp. i. Wks. 1772 I. 327, I discerned a considerable difference in the operations of several kinds of salt-petre even after purification. 1802Med. Jrnl. VIII. 465 He is minute in his directions for its purification and preparation. 1835Ure Phil. Manuf. 66 The art of the tallow-chandler. Purification of spermaceti.
b. Eccl. See quots., and cf. purify 1 b.
1853Dale tr. Baldeschi's Ceremonial 49 He..takes the purification and ablution as usual, cleanses the chalice..with a purificator. 1885Cath. Dict. (ed. 3) App., Purification, as distinct from ablution, is the pouring of wine into the chalice after the priest's communion, the wine being drunk by the priest. This purification is not of ancient date.
2. Ceremonial or ritual cleansing; freeing of a person or thing from uncleanness by appropriate rites; spec. the observances enjoined upon a woman after child-birth by the Jewish law; hence formerly applied to the churching of women.
c1380Wyclif Sel. Wks. II. 147 A question was maad of Joones disciplis of purificacioun, þat men hadden of baptim. c1440Gesta Rom. lxiv. 276 (Harl. MS.) Þe lawe was þat tyme, that eche woman shuld go to chirche, in tyme of hire purificacion. c1485Digby Myst. (1882) i. 31 Our ladies purificacion that she made in the temple as the vsage was than. 1548–9(Mar.) Bk. Com. Prayer, The Order of the Purificacion of weomen. 1579–80North Plutarch, Romulus (1595) 34 The feast of Lupercalia..is ordeined for a purification. 1789Buchan Dom. Med. (1790) 103 The Mahometan, as well as the Jewish religion, enjoins various bathings, washings, and purifications. 1841Elphinstone Hist. Ind. I. i. iv. 83 More than half of one book of the [Brahminical] Code is filled with rules about purification.
b. the Purification of St. Mary (of our Lady, etc.), also simply the Purification: a name in the Western Church for the festival (Feb. 2) of the Presentation of Christ in the Temple (see presentation 1) by the Virgin Mary on the completion of ‘the days of her purification’ (Luke ii. 22); also called Candlemas.
1389in Eng. Gilds (1870) 49 Þe secunde morspeche shal bene aftir þe Purificacioun of our leuedy. Þe thred, aftir þe feste of Phelip and iacob. 1444Paston Lett. I. 50 Wretyn..the Wednesday next to fore ye Fest of the Purificacion of Our Lady at London. a1548Hall Chron., Hen. VIII 22 b, After the Purificacion of our Lady, the Kyng created Sir Charles Brandon Viscount Lisle. 1670Pettus Fodinæ Reg. 18 To hold from the Feast of the Purification next, for 40 years. 1880F. Meyrick in Dict. Chr. Antiq. II. 1140/2 The Purification... As first instituted, this was not a Festival of St. Mary, but of our Lord; and so it has always remained in the Eastern church.
c. attrib. purification flower (see quot.).
1866Aunt Judy's Mag. I. 116 Annie asked about its [the snow-drop's] names, and she mentioned..‘the morning star of flowers’, ‘fair maid of February’, ‘purification flower’.
3. Moral or spiritual cleansing; freeing from moral defilement or corruption; clearing from taint of guilt.
1660Jer. Taylor Worthy Commun. iii. 62 Water [in baptism] is the symbol of purification of the soul from sin. 1756–7tr. Keysler's Trav. II. 131 A person who, for the purification of his soul, ought to remain in Purgatory a hundred thousand years. 1833Alison Hist. Europe (1849) I. ii. 50. 168 [Rousseau's essay] on the question ‘Have the arts and sciences contributed to the corruption or purification of morals?’ 1842Dickens Amer. Notes (1850) 34/1 To make his prison a place of purification and improvement, not of demoralisation and corruption.
4. Freeing from fault or blemish (in ideal or general sense); the action of clearing from debasing or corrupting elements.
1753Smollett Ct. Fathom i. (1784) 12/2 You..are one of those consummate connoisseurs, who, in their purifications, let humour evaporate, while they endeavour to preserve decorum. 1793T. Beddoes Demonstr. Evid. 132 The purification of the Greek grammar from a few of its absurdities. 1845S. Austin Ranke's Hist. Ref. III. 395 Zwingli demanded..the purification of the council from the ungodly. 1861Wright Ess. Archæol. II. xiv. 59 The invention of printing..contributed towards the final purification of the English language. |