Purify v. t. [imp. & p. p. Purified; p. pr. & vb. n. Purifying.]
Etymology: [F.purifier, L. purificare; purus pure + -ficare (in comp.) to make. See Pure, and -fy.]
1. To make pure or clear from material defilement, admixture, or imperfection; to free from extraneous or noxious matter; as, to purify liquors or metals; to purify the blood; to purify the air.
2. Hence, in figurative uses: (a) To free from guilt or moral defilement; as, to purify the heart. And fit them so Purified to receive him pure. Milton.
(b) To free from ceremonial or legal defilement. And Moses took the blood, and put it upon the horns of the altar, . . . and purified the altar. Lev. viii. 15. Purify both yourselves and your captives. Num. xxxi. 19.
(c) To free from improprieties or barbarisms; as, to purify a language. Sprat.
1 other Webster entry under this spelling
Purify, v. i.
To grow or become pure or clear.
Shades of meaning
Fernald has no entry of its own for purify; he lists it under amend, chasten, cleanse.
Where he writes about it:
There we use cleanse, purify, or similar words. — from amend
Cleanse and purify are used extensively in a moral sense; wash in that sense is archaic. — from cleanse