Wilson, Arch

and Prehist. Ann. of Scotland, p. 135. St. Patrick's Purgatory, a cavern in an island in Lough Derg, county Donegal, Ireland, to which pilgrimages are made, where Christ is said to have appeared to St. Patrick and showed him a deep pit, telling him that whoever remained in it a day and a night should be purified from his sins and behold both the torments of the damned and the joys of the ble ed. A person of the name of Owen is said to have done this in the above cavern, for merly also called Owen's cave . He satte all heavie and glommyng, as if he had come lately from Trop on i us' cave, or Saint Patrick's purgatory. Erasmus , Praise of Folie, sig. A. ( Nares .) purge (perj), v.; pret. and pp. purged , ppr. purging . [Early mod. E. also pourge ; purgen , purger = Pr. Sp. Pg. purgar = It. purgare , purgare , make pure, cleanse, pur us , clean, pure, + agere , make, do.] I. trans . 1. To cleanse or purify by sep a rating and carrying off whatever is impure, heterogeneous, foreign, or superfluous; cleanse; clean, or clean out. Nowe purge upp broke and diche. Palladius , Husbondrie (E. E. T. S.), p. 190. The people doe eftsoones adde their owne industry to clense and purge them [the streets]. Coryat , Crudities, I. 213. Nor have we yet quite purg'd the Christian Land; Still Idols here, like Calves at Bethel, stand. Cowley , Death of Crashaw. Thy chill persistent rain has purged our streets Of go ipry. Browning , Ring and Book, 11. 177. 2. To remove by some cleansing or purifying proce or operation; clear or wash away: often followed by away and off . Purge away our sins, for thy name's sake. Ps. lxxix. 9. I am thy father's spirit, Doom'd for a certain term to walk the night, And for the day confined to fast in fires, Till the foul crimes done in my days of nature Are burnt and purged away . Shak., Hamlet, i. 5. 13. The ethereal mould, Incapable of stain, would soon expel Her mischief, and purge off the baser fire, Victorious.