[f. L. lūstrāt-, ppl. stem of lūstrāre, to purify by lustral rites, to go round, review, survey, f. lūstrum: see LUSTRUM.]
1. trans. To purify by a propitiatory offering; to cleanse by (or as if by) lustration; gen. to purify.
1653. [see LUSTRATING below].
1655. Stanley, Hist. Philos., I. (1701), 18/1. There was also a great Plague; the Oracle advis’d them to lustrate the City. Ibid., 57/1. He [Epimenides] is reported to be the first that lustrated Houses and Fields, which he performed by Verse.
1718. Rowe, trans. Lucan, III. 601. Barb’rous Priests some dreadful Pow’r adore, And lustrate ev’ry Tree with human Gore.
1746. T. Seward, Conform. betw. Popery & Paganism, 55. This Custom of Nurses lustrating the Children by Spittle.
1818. J. C. Hobhouse, Hist. Illustr. (ed. 2), 319. The city was solemnly lustrated by holy water and missions,… to purge away the contagion of the French.
1891. trans. De La Saussaye’s Man. Sci. Relig., xix. 160. The sacrificial animals were led round the object which was to be lustrated.
† 2. a. intr. To pass or go through (a place). b. trans. To pass through or traverse. Obs.
1632. Vicars, Æneid, VIII. 303. Thrice through Aventines mount he doth lustrate.
1657–83. Evelyn, Hist. Relig. (1850), I. 83. His soul lustrates and pervades through all things.
1721. Bailey, Gangweek, the Time when the bounds of the Parishes are lustrated by the Parish-Officers, Rogation-Week.
† 3. trans. To view, survey. Obs.
1623. Cockeram, Lustrate, to view.
a. 1648. Ld. Herbert, Hen. VIII. (1683), Ep. Ded. The parts thereof, as fast as I could finish them, were lustrated by Your gracious Eye.
Hence Lustrating vbl. sb. and ppl. a.
1653. Manton, Exp. James iii. 17. Being in an idol temple, the lustrating water fell upon them.
1653. Hammond, Par. & Annot. N. T., 1 Cor. iv. 13, Wks. 1659, III. 520. Περικαθαρματα [filth] signifies those things that are used in the lustrating of a city among the Gentiles.
1728. Earbery, trans. Burnet’s St. Dead, II. 52. Lustrating or purging Fires.
1846. New Timon (ed. 3), 178. The penitent offering the lustrating tide.
