a. [f. L. type *compurgātōri-us, f. compurgātor: see -ORY.]
1. Pertaining to compurgators. Compurgatory oath: the oath taken by compurgators.
1604. Bp. Barlow, Confer. Hampton Crt., 92. Here was necessary the Oath Compurgatorie.
1829. K. Digby, Broadst. Hon., I. Godefridus, 273. The clergy of Spain … instead of compurgatory oaths and judiciary combats, ordained the proofs by witnesses.
1875. Stubbs, Const. Hist., I. iv. 63. The value of the compurgatory oath among the Welsh.
2. Of a compurgator in sense 3.
1868. Reprint Jones’s Glasgow Directory, 1787, Pref. 10. The ‘Compurgatory’ system of Sabbath-keeping.
