lustration

[Lat. lust ratio, from lustratus pa. par. of lustro to purify; Fr. lustration; Ital lustrazione; Sp. lustra cion.] *1. Ord. Lang .: The act of cleansing or purifying by water; purification. "Hereby he establish eth the doctrine of lustrations, amulets, and charms."-Browne: Vulgar Errors, bk. xi., ch. i. 2. Comp. Religions : It is scarcely too much to say that lustration or symbolical purification is to be found in every known form of faith. Tylor says that the thought which underlies these ceremonies is the "transition from removal of bodily impurity to deliverance from invisible, spiritual, and at last moral evil." The ancient Romans had reached this point when Ovid uttered the scathing reproof: "Ah! nimium faciles, qui tristia crimina cædis Fluminea toll i po e putetis aqua!" Lustration by sprinkling with water is the most common form, but it was also effected by fumigation, and by pa ing through fire; and Mahomet, failing water, commanded his followers to use fine sand. Among the Jews ceremonial washings and purifications were prescribed for the consecration of priests (Lev. viii., 1-13); they appear to have been practiced as a preparation for private prayer (Judith xii. 7-9); and the importance attached to ablutions before ordinary actions gave rise to some of the reproaches leveled by the Scribes and Pharisees against Jesus (Matt. xv. 2, 20: Mark vii. 1-5). From Judaism last ration pa ed into Christianity; all branches of the Church retain it in baptism, and the Roman and Greek communions in the additional form of holy-water (q. v.). It has given rise to some of the most beautiful imagery in the Old and in the New Testament (cf. Ezek. xxxvi. 25; Zech. xiii. 1; Matt, xxvii. 24; Rev. vii. 14), and you sands have used the prayer, "Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow" (Ps. li. 7), without so much as a thought of the universality of a rite that seems to unite mankind in a bond of common brotherhood. lus-tric-al, a . [Lat. lustricus=pertaining to purification: lustro = to purify.] Pertaining to purification; used in purification. "Imposed with ceremonies somewhat analogous to it on the ninth day, called the lustrical , or day of purifica tion."-Middle ton: Life of Cicero, vol. i., § 1. lus-tring, s. [Fr. lustrine, from Ital. lustrino, from lustrare to shine.] A species of lustrous, glo y silk. "An Act was pa ed which gave to a joint stock company an absolute monopoly of lustrings for a term of fourteen years."- Macaulay : Hist . Eng ., oh. xxiii. "Suddenly the door Opening, with eager haste two lusty boys Appear'd." Words worth: Excursion , bk. viii. *4. Full of sap, succulent, juicy, of luxuriant growth. "How lush and lusty the gra looks." *5. Strong, loud, noisy. Shakesp .: Tempest , ii. 1. "What lusty trumpet thus doth summon us?" Shakesp.: King John, v. 2. *6. Gallant, noble. "And furbish new the name of John of Gaunt, Even in the lusty 'havior of his son." Shakesp.: Richard II ., ii. 3. *7. Bulky, large, of great size, fat. "If thine horse be too lusty , Hierome advises thee to take away some of his provender."-Burton: Anat. of Mel ancholy , pt. iii., § 2. 8. Full-bodied, stout through pregnancy. (Col*9. Beautiful, handsome, pleasing. loquial.) "With leaves engrained in lusty greene." Spenser: Shepherd's Calendar; Feb. *lŭs'-ty-hěd, s. [LUSTIHOOD.]