All 3 Uses of
purge
in
Don Quixote
- "Well," said the curate, "that and the second, third, and fourth parts all stand in need of a little rhubarb to purge their excess of bile, and they must be cleared of all that stuff about the Castle of Fame and other greater affectations, to which end let them be allowed the over-seas term, and, according as they mend, so shall mercy or justice be meted out to them; and in the mean time, gossip, do you keep them in your house and let no one read them."†
Chpt 1.5-6purge = get rid of
- "The case is this, seƱor," continued the farmer, "that by God's mercy I am married with the leave and licence of the holy Roman Catholic Church; I have two sons, students, and the younger is studying to become bachelor, and the elder to be licentiate; I am a widower, for my wife died, or more properly speaking, a bad doctor killed her on my hands, giving her a purge when she was with child; and if it had pleased God that the child had been born, and was a boy, I would have put him to study for doctor, that he might not envy his brothers the bachelor and the licentiate."†
Chpt 2.47-48 *
- "That I believe," said Sancho; "and they would be great fools if they did or thought otherwise; once more I say, see to my feeding and my Dapple's for that is the great point and what is most to the purpose; and when the hour comes let us go the rounds, for it is my intention to purge this island of all manner of uncleanness and of all idle good-for-nothing vagabonds; for I would have you know that lazy idlers are the same thing in a State as the drones in a hive, that eat up the honey the industrious bees make.†
Chpt 2.49-50
Definition:
get rid of things thought undesirable
The exact meaning of purge can depend upon its context. For example:
- "purge the government of our enemies" -- get rid of people for political reasons
- "purge my closet of everything I haven't worn in a year" -- get rid of undesired things
- "To purge yourself of crippling sorrow, you'll need to express it." -- get rid of unwanted feelings
- "I'm doing a 24-hour purge and then starting a new diet." -- emptying the intestinal tract