Definitions
Etymologies
- From Middle French abstersif, from Latin abstersus. (Wiktionary)
Examples
“Thus, sir, when men dye cloth, the liquor in which they dip it hath very sharp and abstersive particles; which, consuming and scouring off all the matter that filled the pores, make the cloth more apt to receive the dye, because its pores are empty and want something to fill them up.”
“Some think these almonds have a penetrating, abstersive quality, are able to cleanse the face, and clear it from the common freckles; and therefore, when they are eaten, by their bitterness vellicate and fret the pores, and by that means draw down the ascending vapors from the head.”
“Pownall the local historian tells you, "as a vulnerary and abstersive," and healed wounds with it; then some labourers accidentally drank it, and Epsom's fortune was made.”
“But you shelter from Nature in houses, you protect yourselves by clothes that are useful instead of being ornamental, you wash — with such abstersive chemicals as soap for example — and above all you consult doctors.””
“But you shelter from Nature in houses, you protect yourselves by clothes that are useful instead of being ornamental, you wash -- with such abstersive chemicals as soap for example -- and above all you consult doctors. ”
“All the parts of this tree are abstersive, and therefore sovereign for the consolidating wounds; and asswage the pains of the gout: But the bark decocted in common water, to almost the consistence of a syrup, adding a third part of _aqua vitæ_, is a most admirable remedy for the _ischiadicæ_ or hip-pain, the place being well rubb’d and chaf’d by the fire.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘abstersive’.
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Logolepsy
"Luciferous Logolepsy is a collection of over 9,000 obscure English words. Though the definition of an 'English' word might seem to be straightforward, it is not. There exist so many adopted, deriv...
Anschauung, Areopagus, Argus, Briarean, Dei gratia, Dei judicium, Deo volente, Duecento, Foehn, Geflugelte Worte, Gegenschein, Hakenkreuz and 9230 more...
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Adjectival Arcana
A roster of adjectives that infrequently surface in typical conversation and writing. Many are dredged from scientific or other technical jargon or sieved from examples of disused archaic forms.
unitegmic, acaulescent, reticuloendothelial, ingressive, uniate, acanthopterygian, ossific, epiphysial, perivisceral, acœlomatous, cestoid, acælomate and 7756 more...
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jmjarmstrong's list
Words that I used to know.
geloscopy, hunker, willy nilly, harum scarum, whacko, meh, nork, misunderestimate, atrabiliousness, luftmensch, auxanometer, hyperhedonia and 1948 more...
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Astilius' List
cupidity, pariah, concupiscence, obdurate, rectitude, mulish, ululation, chiaroscuro, loquacious, garrulous, impenitent, enervate and 23 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for abstersive.
astilius adv. - serving to cleanse or purge Sep 8, 2009
jmjarmstrong JM is searching for some intellectual abstersive agents. Aug 25, 2009