abstersion
See also: abstersión
English edit
Etymology edit
- From either Old French or Medieval Latin abstertion, from Latin abstersus, past participle of abstergēo (“I wipe off or away”).
Pronunciation edit
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /æbˈstɜː.ʒn̩/
- (US) IPA(key): /æbˈstɝ.ʒn̩/, /əbˈstɝ.ʒn̩/, /æbˈstɝ.ʃn̩/, /əbˈstɝ.ʃn̩/
Audio (US) (file)
Noun edit
abstersion (countable and uncountable, plural abstersions)
- (archaic) Act of wiping clean; a cleansing; a purging. [First attested around 1350 to 1470.][1]
- 1814, Sir Walter Scott, Waverley; or, 'Tis Sixty Years Since:
- Waverley ... was offered the patriarchal refreshment of a bath for the feet ... He was not, indeed, so luxuriously attended upon this occasion as the heroic travellers in the Odyssey; the task of ablution and abstersion being performed, not by a beautiful damsel, trained To chafe the limb, and pour the fragrant oil, but by a smoke-dried skinny old Highland woman, who did not seem to think herself much honoured by the duty imposed upon her...
Translations edit
the act of cleaning
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References edit
- ^ Lesley Brown, editor-in-chief, William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, editors (2002), “abstersion”, in The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles, 5th edition, Oxford, New York, N.Y.: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 9.
Anagrams edit
Scots edit
Pronunciation edit
Noun edit
abstersion (plural abstersions)