lustrate
verb/ˈlʌstɹeɪt/
Etymology From Latin lustrātus (“lustrated”), perfect passive participle of lustrō (see -ate (verb-forming suffix)), from lustrum (“ritual purification”) + -ō (first conjugation verb-forming suffix), q.v. In reference to imparting luster, further via senses of Middle French lustre, from Old Italian lustro.
1
Synonym of purify, to ritually cleanse or renew, particularly to do so with a propitiatory offering or (historical) the lustration, quinquennial ritual of the Roman censor to cleanse the city after a census.
- We must purge, and cleanse, and lustrate the whole city.c. 1650, Henry Hammond, Miscellaneous Theological Works..., Vol. 3, Sermon 23, p. 503 (1850 ed.)
- "Well," said Hypatia, more and more listlessly; "it might be more prudent to show them first the fairer and more graceful side of the old Myths... I wish to lustrate them afresh for the service of the gods."1853, Charles Kingsley, chapter 20, in Hypatia:
1 more example
- Mid-zenith hangs the fascinated day In wind-lustrated hollows crystalline.1909, Edith Wharton, “An Autumn Sunset”, in Artemis to Actaeon and Other Poems:
2
Ambitransitive, With 'through' Synonym of pass through, traverse.
3
Obsolete Synonym of look, look over, survey.
4
Obsolete Synonym of luster, to impart luster to, to make lustrous.
- Derived terms
- lustrable