also 6 abstertion, abstarcion. [a. Fr. abstersion (16th c.), n. of action f. L. absters- ppl. stem of abstergēre: see ABSTERGE and -ION.] The act or process of wiping clean, cleansing, scouring, or purging. lit. and fig.

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1543.  Traheron, Vigo’s Chirurg, II. xvii. 28. Incarne [the place] wyth thys incarnative, whych dothe bothe incarne and mundifye with some abstertion.

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1562.  Bulleyn, Dial. betw. Sorenes, 16 a. Use the maner of digestion, and abstarcion in maner as I haue said.

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1649.  Jer. Taylor, Great Exemp., I. ix. 135. The Messias … needed not the abstersions of repentance, or the washings of baptisme.

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1814.  Scott, Wav. (1829), xx. 153. The task of ablution and abstersion being performed … by a smoke-dried skinny old Highland woman.

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1850.  Merivale, Hist. Rom. Emp. (1865), VIII. lxvi. 218. No great city was ever so badly placed for due abstersion by natural outfall.

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