abstersive

English

From Middle French abstersif, from Latin abstersus.

abstersive (comparative more abstersive, superlative most abstersive)

Cleansing; purging; abstergent. [First attested around 1350 to 1470.][1]
- 1603, Michel de Montaigne, “That the taste of goods or evilles doth greatly depend on the opinion we have of them”, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book I, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], OCLC 946730821, page 137:
  If he cannot digeſt a ſtrong and abſterſive drugge, for to remove his evill, let him at leaſt take a lenitive pill to eaſe the ſame.
- 1631, Francis [Bacon], “I. Century.”, in Sylua Syluarum: Or A Naturall Historie. In Ten Centuries. […], 3rd edition, London: […] William Rawley; [p]rinted by J[ohn] H[aviland] for William Lee […], paragraph 65, pages 21–22, OCLC 1044372886:
  Therefore it is good, after Purging, to vſe Apozumes, and Broths, not ſo much Opening as thoſe vſed before Purging, but Abſterſiue and Mundifying Cliſters alſo are good to conclude with, to draw away the Reliques of the Humours, that may haue deſcended to the Lower Region of the Body.

cleansing, purging

abstersive (plural abstersives)

(now rare) Something cleansing; detergent; abstergent. [First attested around 1350 to 1470.][1]
- 1645 March 14 (Gregorian calendar), John Milton, Tetrachordon: Expositions upon the Foure Chief Places in Scripture, which Treat of Mariage, or Nullities in Mariage. […], London: [s.n.], OCLC 1203280161, page 11:
  […] the ſtrong abſterſive of ſom heroick magiſtrat […]

Lesley Brown, editor-in-chief; William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, editors (2002), “abstersive”, in The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles, 5th edition, Oxford; New York, N.Y.: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 10.

abstersive