To have or produce frequent evacuations from the
intestines, as by means of a cathartic.

That which purges; especially, a medicine that evacuates
the intestines; a cathartic.

To clear from guilt, or from moral or ceremonial
defilement; as, to purge one of guilt or crime.

To become pure, as by clarification.

To clear from accusation, or the charge of a crime or
misdemeanor, as by oath or in ordeal.

To clear of sediment, as a boiler, or of air, as a steam
pipe, by driving off or permitting escape.

To operate on as, or by means of, a cathartic medicine,
or in a similar manner.

To cleanse, clear, or purify by separating and carrying
off whatever is impure, heterogeneous, foreign, or superfluous.

To clarify; to defecate, as liquors.

To remove in cleansing; to deterge; to wash away; –
often followed by away.