cleansing
    adj 1: cleansing the body by washing; especially ritual washing
           of e.g. hands; "ablutionary rituals" [syn: ablutionary,
           cleansing]
    2: acting like an antiseptic [syn: cleansing, purifying]
    n 1: the act of making something clean; "he gave his shoes a
         good cleaning" [syn: cleaning, cleansing, cleanup]

Cleanse \Cleanse\ (kl[e^]nz), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Cleansed
   (kl[e^]nzd); p. pr. & vb. n. Cleansing.] [AS. cl[=ae]nsian,
   fr. cl[=ae]ne clean. See Clean.]
   To render clean; to free from fith, pollution, infection,
   guilt, etc.; to clean.
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         If we walk in the light . . . the blood of Jesus Christ
         his son cleanseth us from all sin.       --1 John i. 7.
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         Can'st thou not minister to a mind diseased,
         And with some sweet oblivious antidote
         Cleanse the suffed bosom of that perilous stuff
         Which weighs upon the heart?             --Shak.
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