v. [? a. Fr. absterge-r (16th c. in Littré), ad. L. abstergē-re to wipe away, f. abs off + tergē-re to wipe. Perhaps directly from the Latin.] To wipe away; to wipe clean; to cleanse; also fig. to purge.
1541. R. Copland, Galyen’s Terap., 2 H j b. But yf ye wyll clense the vlcere ye must chuse thynges yt absterge or wasshe moderatly, as rawe hony.
1621. Burton, Anat. of Mel. (1651), II. ii. II. 238. Baths … are still frequented … all over Greece, and those hot countries; to absterge belike that fulsomeness of sweat, to which they are there subject.
1718. Quincy, Compl. Disp., 98. [It] absterges the mucus from the stomach and other parts.
1817. Coleridge, Ess. on Own Times (1850), III. 957. It was left for the Kraulmen, from whose errors they [some converts from ‘Hottentotism’] absterged themselves, to insult and abuse them as apostates and renegades.
