Also 6 exorsize. [(? ad. Fr. exorcise-r,) ad. late L. exorcizāre, ad. Gr. ἐξορκίζειν, f. ἐξ out + ὄρκος oath.
Owing perh. to association with exercise, the spelling -ise is now almost universal; the better form exorcize is marked in most Dicts. as obsolete.]
1. trans. To drive away (an evil spirit) by the invocation or use of some holy name; to call forth, expel. Const. from, out of.
1546. Bale, Eng. Votaries, 35. All vayne & craftye scyences … exorcysynge, incautynge & coniuryngge.
1711. Steele, Spect., No. 141, ¶ 6. Something … in this Comedy … wants to be exorcised more than the Witches.
1850. Mrs. Jameson, Leg. Monast. Ord. (1863), 21. Touched him on the shoulder with his staff and exorcised the demon.
1870. Gladstone, Glean., IV. vi. 202. The spirit which devised it, is not exorcised, either from the priesthood or the rural population.
2. To clear (a person or place) of evil spirits; to purify or set free from malignant influences.
1645. Evelyn, Mem. (1857), I. 178. They were … exorcised at their entering the church with abundance of ceremonies.
1711. Addison, Spect., No. 110, ¶ 5. The Knight … ordered all the Apartments to be flung open, and exorcised by his Chaplain.
1742. Young, Nt. Th., IX. 1362. Exorcise his heart So long possest.
1826. W. Jay, Christian Contemplated (1828), ix. 285. This joy exorcises a man of carnal affection.
1848. Lytton, Harold, XI. ix. 291. Muttering hymns, monks huddled together … as if to exorcise the land of a demon.
3. To call upon (an evil spirit) with a solemn asseveration; to adjure. Also, to conjure up. Now rare.
1584. R. Scot, Discov. Witchcr., XV. xii. 412. I doo coniure and I doo exorcise you, by the father, by the sonne, and by the Holy-ghost … that … you doo come vnto me.
1649. R. Hodges, Plain. Direct. (1653), 7. His daily exercise is to exorcise or adjure.
1732. Neal, Hist. Purit. (1822), I. 44. The devil was exorcised to go out, and enter no more into him.
1848. Mrs. Jameson, Sacr. & Leg. Art (1850), 406. Having exorcised the dragon in the name of Him who was born of a virgin.
transf. 18[?]. De Quincey, Wks. (1871), XVI. 16. Secrets of ages remote from each other have been exorcized from the accumulated shadows of centuries.
Hence Exorcized ppl. a. Exorcizement, the action of exorcizing; exorcizing influence. Exorcizer (also 6–7 exorcisor), one who exorcizes. Exorcizing vbl. sb. and ppl. a.
1664. H. More, Myst. Iniq., xviii. 65. The derivation or distribution of these Exorcized Elements into several Superstitious uses.
1679. T. Puller, Moder. Ch. Eng., 323. Never or rarely aneling any with exorces’d Oyl … till [etc.].
1781. [T. Vaughan], Fashionable Follies, I. 151. He, like them, was become sensible to the exorcisement of holy water.
1873. L. Wallace, Fair God, VII. ii. 452. I am not an evil spirit, to fly the exorcisement of thy bell.
1502. Ord. Crysten Men (W. de W., 1506), I. ii. 12. But for the good understanding the which is exorciser that is to be noted.
a. 1806. Horsley, Serm. (1810), I. x. 230. Things that they had seen done … by professed exorcisers.
1610. Bp. Hall, Apol. Brownists, § 45. 108. Their anoylings, their exorcizings.
1664. H. More, Myst. Iniq., xviii. 65. Of the Enchanting or Exorcizing of Water [etc.].
1817. T. L. Peacock, Melincourt, i. The invariable exorcising apparatus of a large venison pasty.
