pureadj.adv.n.

Brit.

/pjʊə/,

/pjɔː/, U.S.

/pjʊ(ə)r/

Forms: Middle English perrour (comparative, transmission error), Middle English peure, Middle English poere, Middle English por (south-west midlands), Middle English pore, Middle English poure, Middle English powre, Middle English puȝr, Middle English puir, Middle English puire, Middle English pur, Middle English puyr, Middle English puyre, Middle English–1500s peur, Middle English–1500s pewre, Middle English–1500s (1800s– in sense C. 6) puer, Middle English– pure, 1500s–1600s pewr, 1600s pvre, 1800s pewer (in sense C. 6); English regional (Cornwall) 1800s– pewer, 1800s– puer, 1800s– pur; U.S. regional (chiefly south Midland and southern) 1800s– puore, 1900s– pyo' (chiefly in African-American usage), 1900s– pyore; Scottish pre-1700 peure, pre-1700 poore, pre-1700 poure, pre-1700 power, pre-1700 puir, pre-1700 puire, pre-1700 pur, pre-1700 purre, pre-1700 puyr, pre-1700 puyre, pre-1700 pwre, pre-1700 1700s– pure. N.E.D. (1909) also records a form late Middle English pewr.

Origin: Of multiple origins. Partly a borrowing from French. Partly a borrowing from Latin. Etymons: French pur; Latin pūrus.

Etymology: < Anglo-Norman peur, pure, Anglo-Norman and Old French, Middle French pur (French pur; feminine pure) (adjective) unmixed (c1000 as pura, feminine, used figuratively with reference to faith), unstained, chaste (c1135), sole, mere, simple (c1170), without aesthetic fault (c1176), real, genuine (second quarter of the 13th cent.), independent, unconditional (late 13th cent. in Anglo-Norman), complete, entire (c1292 or earlier in Anglo-Norman), (adverb) completely (c1292 or earlier in Anglo-Norman), (noun) person or thing that is not mixed (c1170), person or thing that has no faults (c1174) and its etymon classical Latin pūrus clean, unmixed, unadulterated, (of celestial objects) clear, (of the voice) clear, taken by itself, complete, genuine, morally undefiled, chaste, ritually clean, unconditional, absolute < the same Indo-European base as Sanskrit pū- to purify, and perhaps also Old High German fouwen to sift (also fewen; Middle High German vewen). Compare Old Occitan pur (second half of the 11th cent.; Occitan pur), Catalan pur (late 13th cent.), Spanish puro (early 13th cent.), Portuguese puro (13th cent.), Italian puro (12th cent.); also ( < Latin, in some cases partly via French) Dutch puur, pure (Dutch puur), Middle Low German pūr, Middle High German pūr (German pur), Old Swedish pur (Swedish pur), Early Irish púr (Irish †púr), Welsh pur (13th cent.).Apparently attested earlier as a surname: Aluredus Pur (1178), although it is unclear whether this is to be interpreted as reflecting currency of the Anglo-Norman or the Middle English word. It is possible that the Middle English forms por , pore could in some instances instead show poor adj. With pure (and perpetual) alms at sense A. 2b compare post-classical Latin eleemosyna pura , also eleemosyna pura et perpetua (from 12th cent. in British sources; also in continental sources), Anglo-Norman pure et perpetuele almoigne (late 13th cent.). In pure widowhood at sense A. 2c after post-classical Latin pura viduitas pure widowhood (from c1315 British source), Anglo-Norman pure vedveté (late 13th cent.). In sense A. 2f after ancient Greek καθαρός pure (see catharsis n.), in Hellenistic Greek also ‘preceded by a vowel’. With pure and simple at sense A. 3c compare French pur et simple (see pur et simple adj.). With sense A. 8c compare earlier purely adj. With sense C. 3 compare earlier pured n., purray n. With sense C. 6 compare pure v. 3.

A. adj.

I. In physical senses.

a. Not mixed or adulterated; clean, clear, refined; spec. (a) not mixed with any other substance or material; free from admixture or adulteration; unmixed, unalloyed (often qualifying names of colours; see also sense B. 2); (b) free from contamination or physical impurity; not mixed with anything that corrupts or impairs; untainted, clean; (c) visibly or optically clear; spotless, stainless (in quots. 1481, 1652: transparent).The quotations here represent a range of uses within these senses, often with no clear lines of division, and some unite more than one shade of meaning.

ΘΚΠ

the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > freedom from impurities > [adjective]

fairOE

unfiledc1200

purec1300

undefouled13..

unfouledc1380

fresha1393

finec1440

filthless1532

taintless1590

virgin1596

untainted1609

indevirginate?1624

unpolluted1771

germless1869

Diana1870

sterile1877

aseptic1883

pristine1910

the world > matter > colour > quality of colour > [adjective] > pure or clear

purec1300

freshc1405

fair1663

serene1751

the world > matter > liquid > water > [adjective] > properties or characteristics of water > pure or clear

livingeOE

fairOE

purec1300

cleara1400

skirea1400

crystalc1425

lucent1820

the world > matter > light > transparency or translucence > [adjective]

shireOE

brightOE

through-shineOE

cleanc1040

cleara1400

transparent1413

crystalc1425

crystallinec1425

crystal-clear?a1439

pure1481

perspicuatea1500

beryl1508

through-shining1526

diaphane1561

thorough-seeable1562

pellucid1563

sheer1565

translucent1568

liquid1590

tralucent?1592

perspicuous1599

thorough light1601

diaphanic1614

diaphanous1614

perspicable1615

translucid1615

diaphanal1616

lucid1620

diaphaned1626

transpicuous1638

perlucid1647

dioptrical1760

dioptric1801

unconcealing1804

see-through1851

pellucent1886

pool-clear1924

c1300 St. John Evangelist (Laud) 272 in C. Horstmann Early S.-Eng. Legendary (1887) 410 (MED) So clene gold ne so puyr huy ne seiȝen neuere with eiȝen.

a1325 St. Brendan (Corpus Cambr.) 314 in C. D'Evelyn & A. J. Mill S. Eng. Legendary (1956) 191 Calis and crues [read cruets], pur cler cristal.

c1350 (a1333) William of Shoreham Poems (1902) 29 (MED) Of pure wete hyt [sc. the sacrament] mot be, And eke of pure wyne.

a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add.) f. 153 To make put watir clene and pure.

c1400 (?c1380) Pearl 227 So watz hit clene and cler and pure, Þat precios perle þer hit watz pyȝt.

1481 W. Caxton tr. Myrrour of Worlde iii. vi. 140 The mone is not so pure that the sonne may shyne..thurgh her as thurgh an other sterre.

a1525 (c1448) R. Holland Bk. Howlat l. 369 in W. A. Craigie Asloan MS (1925) II. 106 Of pure gold was ye ground.

1590 E. Spenser Faerie Queene ii. vii. sig. S3 At the well head the purest streames arise.

1638 F. Junius Painting of Ancients 42 To have his minde..like unto a pure, bright looking-glasse.

1652 J. Gaule Πυς-μαντια 7 One reads them with the pure glass of Gods word? the other by his own false and fallacious perspicils.

1751 T. Gray Elegy xiv. 8 Full many a gem of purest ray serene, The dark unfathom'd caves of ocean bear.

1785 W. Cowper Task ii. 508 To filter off a crystal draught Pure from the lees.

1797 Encycl. Brit. XVI. 33/1 There can be but one proper species of red;..all other shades being adulterations of that pure colour, with yellow, brown, &c.

1800 tr. E. J. B. Bouillon-Lagrange Man. Course Chem. II. 308 If alcohol be re-distilled, and reduced to two-thirds, you will obtain it very pure. This is what is called Rectified Alcohol.

1804 J. Grahame Sabbath 4 The morning air pure from the city's smoke.

1839 A. Ure Dict. Arts 414 A mixture of prussian blue and cochineal pink..in preference to a pure blue.

1853 W. Gregory Inorg. Chem. (ed. 3) 74 In consequence of the great solvent power of water, it is never found pure in nature.

1860 J. Tyndall Glaciers of Alps i. xxv. 187 The snow was of the purest white.

1922 T. M. Lowry Inorg. Chem. xliii. 857 (note) The number of carats shows the proportion of pure gold in 24 parts, 24 carat gold being the pure metal.

1987 R. Carver Elephant (1988) 114 The air was pure and invigorating.

1995 L. Garrett Coming Plague (new ed.) x. 276 Once it reached Newark, a two-pound bag of pure heroin might be ‘cut’..with some other chemical.

2003 S. Brown Free Gift Inside! 29 Real food, pure water, fresh air, natural cosmetics, organic farming..are the order of the day.

†b. Intact, unbroken, perfect, entire. Obsolete. rare.

ΘΚΠ

the world > relative properties > wholeness > [adjective] > whole or intact

yholec1000

wholeOE

all wholec1175

hale1357

haila1400

intactc1450

undeflowereda1533

dintless1558

pure1607

undinteda1616

entirea1631

neat1715

1607 E. Topsell Hist. Foure-footed Beastes 716 Twenty of these hornes pure, and so many broken.

c. Of sound: not discordant or harsh, perfectly in tune, clear and even in tone; (Music and Acoustics) produced by a vibration of a single frequency, with no overtones or harmonics; chiefly in pure tone (cf. simple tone n. at simple adj., n., adv., and int. Compounds 3).

ΘΚΠ

society > leisure > the arts > music > musical sound > [adjective] > timbre or quality > pure or clear

brightOE

silver1526

silvered1642

purea1791

silvery1824

pellucid1952

the world > matter > physics > science of sound > vibration > [noun] > simple tone

simple tone1864

partial1873

pure tone1902

tone1919

sine tone1962

the world > matter > physics > science of sound > vibration > [adjective] > of single frequency

pure tone1961

a1791 F. Hopkinson Misc. Ess. & Occas. Writings (1792) I. 289 A substance..sufficiently elastic for the purpose..shall draw a full and pure tone from the string [of a harpsichord].

1845 E. Holmes Life Mozart 104 She has a beautiful voice—neither strong nor weak, but very pure and good in the intonation.

1870 Nature 3 Mar. 458/2 This interval should, therefore, give no beats, and an impure octave be as harmonious as a pure one.

1889 J. Lecky in G. Grove Dict. Music IV. 70/2 If..all the consonant intervals are made perfectly smooth and pure, so as to give no beats, the tuning is then called Just Intonation.

1902 Encycl. Brit. XXXI. 751/2 Considerable difference of opinion exists as to whether beats can blend so as to give a sensation of tone; but König, by using very pure tones of high pitch, appears to have settled the question.

1961 Lancet 22 July 197/2 Pure-tone audiometry is only one item in a whole range of tests that are needed to build up a complete picture of the condition of a patient who has a hearing-loss.

1976 L. H. Schaudinischky Sound, Man & Building i. 30 The beat grows progressively lower and vanishes altogether when f₁ = f₂. This gives rise to a method of extremely accurately determining the unknown frequency of a pure tone.

2005 Independent (Nexis) 12 Aug. (Features) 5 What you often get with these northern orchestras is a weighty, pure bass sound.

d. Of a group of plants, esp. trees: consisting of only one species.

ΘΚΠ

the world > plants > by growth or development > defined by habit > tree or woody plant > wood or assemblage of trees or shrubs > [adjective] > containing trees of same or different age or species

even-aged1889

pure1889

all-aged1905

uneven-aged1905

1889 W. Schlich Man. Forestry I. ii. iii. 177 Such woods may be composed of one species only, or they may contain a mixture of two or more species; in the former case they are called ‘pure woods’, and in the latter ‘mixed woods’.

1902 J. C. Gifford Pract. Forestry viii. 198 In Europe.., where large quantities of spruce are raised for this purpose, it grows in dense, pure stands.

1948 Misc. Publ. Univ. Michigan Mus. Zool. 68 16 The creosote bush, usually in pure stands, covers great expanses of the broad desert basins.

1991 Forestry 64 360 The sampling strategy was aimed at pure crops of Sitka spruce in eastern and southern Scotland.

II. In non-physical or extended senses.

a. Free from anything not properly belonging to it; without any added, extraneous, or unnecessary elements; simple, homogeneous, unmixed, unadulterated (sometimes merging with sense A. 6). pure naturals: see natural n.¹ 3a.

ΚΠ

c1300 St. Thomas Becket (Laud) 451 in C. Horstmann Early S.-Eng. Legendary (1887) 119 (MED) Euere þe herre heore ordre is, me þinchez bi puyr [a1325 Corpus Cambr. pur] lawe þe strengore scholde heore dom beo.

c1325 (c1300) Chron. Robert of Gloucester (Calig.) 9724 (MED) Me ssolde him uerst desordeini & suþþe, þoru pur lawe & þoru Iugement of þe lond, honge him.

c1450 (c1378) W. Langland Piers Plowman (Rawl.) (1869) B. xiii. 166 (MED) Þere nys neyther..Pope ne patriarch þat puyre reson ne schal make Þe meyster of alle þo men.

1508 Golagros & Gawane (Chepman & Myllar) sig. bv^v For pure sorow of that sight thai sighit vnsound.

1614 S. Purchas Pilgrimage (ed. 2) i. ix. 47 In the time of Elisa or Dido, the Phænicean or Punike, which she carried into Africa, was pure Hebrew, as were also their letters.

1642 R. Burney Answer Observ. v. 23 'Tis Adams pure naturalls, impure nature that makes a Subject covet to be a King.

1724 A. Collins Disc. Grounds Christian Relig. 81 The Sadducees profess'd to follow the pure text of Scripture, or to interpret it according to the literal sense.

1864 F. C. Bowen Logic (1870) vi. 148 I know at once, or by Immediate Inference,—that is, by an act of Pure Thought.

1882 G. M. Minchin Uniplanar Kinematics 130 The strain at a point is said to be pure strain if the principal axes (axes of the strain ellipse) are not rotated by the strain.

1912 D. C. Macintosh Probl. Knowl. i. 63 The innocent enough looking ‘dualistic’ doctrine that all true knowledge is the elaboration of pure experience by thought.

1942 G. M. Trevelyan Eng. Social Hist. xi. 363 The foundation of hospitals and the improvement of medical service and infant welfare were pure gain.

2004 Times Lit. Suppl. 1 Oct. 15/4 Osama bin Laden rejects..the entire history of interpretation of the Qur'an..in order to return to the unadulterated, original wording, pure, naked scripture.

b. Law. Without any condition attached; absolute, unconditional. Frequently in pure (and perpetual) alms (cf. frankalmoign n., perpetual alms n. at perpetual adj., adv., and n. Compounds 1). Now historical.

ΘΚΠ

society > authority > lack of subjection > freedom or liberty > freedom of action or from restraint > [adjective] > free from conditions

purea1393

absolutec1475

unreserved1538

unconditioneda1631

unconditionable1642

unconditionate1642

inconditionate1654

respectlessa1660

unconditional1667

unconditionated1836

a1393 J. Gower Confessio Amantis (Fairf.) Prol. 742 (MED) The richesse Which to Silvestre in pure almesse The ferste Constantinus lefte, Fro holy cherche thei berefte.

1438 in J. Robertson Illustr. Topogr. & Antiq. Aberdeen & Banff (1857) III. 265 For quhy that I..has..confermyt a charter of pur sellyng of my landys.

a1475 in A. Clark Eng. Reg. Godstow Nunnery (1905) i. 34 (MED) Huge, Abbot of Abendon..grauntyd to the Mynchons of Godstow..in-to pur & perpetual almys, fowre burdyns of thornys.

1584 Burgh Court Perth 4 May Sufficient charter of puir venditioun contenyng clausis of warrandice.

c1626 H. Bisset Rolment Courtis (1922) II. 31 In puir and perpetuall almouse.

1713 Act 13 Anne c. 6 §8 To have and to hold the said Canonship or Prebend to the said Colwell Brickenden..and his Successors..in pure and perpetual Alms.

1818 H. T. Colebrooke Treat. Obligations & Contracts 151 [If] one be conditional or deferred for a term, while the other is a pure and simple engagement.

1880 J. Muirhead tr. Gaius Institutes ii. 159 Sabinus and Cassius think that a conditional legacy to him is valid, but not a pure one.

1997 J. Hudson Land, Law & Lordship in Anglo-Norman Eng. 191 Ralph Carbunel gave the canons of Easby two carucates to hold of him and his heirs in pure and perpetual alms.

c. Law. Chiefly in pure widowhood. Designating the status of a widow who has not remarried and is regarded as an independent legal personality, able to hold and dispose of property, land, etc., in her own right. Now historical.

ΘΚΠ

society > society and the community > kinship or relationship > marriage or wedlock > widow or widower > [noun] > widow > types of widow

pure widowhood1427

vowess1506

king's widow1540

widow1561

Merry Widowc1567

widow mother1582

virgin widowa1644

war widow1866

1427 in W. Fraser Melvilles & Leslies (1890) III. 21 Condicyonys..quhilkis scho is bundyne..to fulfile in hir pur wyduyte.

1448 in B. Sundby Stud. Middle Eng. Dial. Material Worcs. Rec. (1963) 256 (MED) Ef..the seid Jahne ouer luve the seid Thomas Corbet, then the seid Jahne in hure pure weduhod shal relese..alle hure right and titel.

a1475 in A. Clark Eng. Reg. Godstow Nunnery (1905) i. 147 (MED) Agnes þe wyfe sumtyme of Iohn perschore..beyng in pure wydewhode..grauntyd..to þe religiouse women..alle here ryȝht..in oon Mese.

1624 in J. Robertson Illustr. Topogr. & Antiq. Aberdeen & Banff (1862) IV. 256 The pretendit chartour... Dame Issobell is alledgit in hir puire vidowitie to have gevin.

1666 W. Dugdale Origines Juridiciales xiii. 28 I have seen an original deed..by Alice the daughter of William de Wrottesle..in her pure Widowhood, of all that land which her father gave in frank marriage with her.

1731 Magna Britannia VI. 413/1 She survived Baldwin, and in her pure Widowhood gave to the Canons of Bolton..her Mills at this Place.

1991 Past & Present May 30 There are two particularly interesting features of this transaction. The first concerns the issue of ‘pure widowhood’. In theory a widow was entitled to freebench rights only during her ‘pure’ (that is, un-remarried) widowhood.

d. In reference to breeding or lineage: of unmixed origin or descent; pure-bred.Originally of persons; now often of domesticated animals.

ΘΚΠ

the world > life > biology > biological processes > genetic activity > heredity or hereditary descent > [adjective] > descent from common ancestor

pure1569

truly1650

thoroughbred1719

thorough-blood1774

monogeneous1857

genetic1860

monogenous1866

homogenetic1870

homogenetical1870

homogenous1870

monophyletic1874

clean-bred1882

homodemic1883

homophylic1883

homosystemic1883

line-bred1891

synepigonic1904

cladistic1960

1569 R. Grafton Chron. II. 286 To people the towne with pure Englishe men.

a1675 J. Lightfoot Wks. (1684) II. 799 In Persia there are very many not of pure blood, and a few that are pure.

1729 E. Fenton Observ. Waller's Poems in E. Waller Wks. p. xix/2 Her blood is kept pure, by often alliance with great and Princely families.

1836 in H. Strang Pioneers in Canada (1935) 80 Thomas Hassel, a pure Indian, who had been educated at Red River, and engaged by me as an interpreter.

1854 J. H. Newman Lect. Hist. Turks i. ii. 28 I consider Attila to have been a pure Hun.

1866 G. MacDonald Ann. Quiet Neighbourhood xxvii That horse..is very nearly a pure Arab.

1983 K. Hulme Bone People 64 My father's father was English so I'm not yer 100% pure. But I'm Maori. And that's the way I feel too.

2002 J. Cunliffe Encycl. Dog Breeds (new ed.) 190/2 [The modern English setter was] greatly influenced by Edward Laverack who acquired two pure English setters in 1825 and began his breeding programme.

e. Of a subject of study or practice: restricted to the essential matter; not concerned with related subjects or topics; spec. dealing with the theory or abstract understanding of a subject as distinct from its practical application (cf. pure mathematics n.); frequently opposed to applied adj. 3a, mixed adj.² 5. Also: designating a student or practitioner of the theory or essentials of a subject or sphere of activity; (of music, painting, poetry, etc.) designating a work or form considered absolute, essential, or abstract, rather than representational, didactic, or commercial; (hence) of or relating to an artist whose work is of this type.

ΘΚΠ

society > leisure > the arts > music > [adjective]

musica1382

musical1447

rural1488

harmonic1570

harmonical1603

pure1605

tuneful1697

melophonic1843

the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > branch of knowledge > systematic knowledge, science > [adjective] > kinds of

philosophical?a1513

mixed1605

pure1605

occulta1652

applied1832

statistical1885

marine scientific1937

soft1966

the mind > mental capacity > belief > speculation > confirmation of hypothesis, theory > [adjective] > characterized by theory

pure1605

theorized1826

theory-laden1886

the world > health and disease > healing > healer > specialist > [adjective]

pure1858

society > leisure > the arts > the arts in general > [adjective]

pure1941

1605 F. Bacon Of Aduancem. Learning ii. sig. Hh3 The mathematicks are either pure, or mixt... Mixt hath for subiect some Axiomes or parts of Naturall Philosop[h] ie.

1648 Bp. J. Wilkins Math. Magick i. ii. 12 Mathematicks..is usually divided into pure and mixed.

1750 S. Johnson Rambler No. 14. ⁋5 The difference between pure science, which has to do only with ideas, and the application of its laws to the use of life.

1858 R. G. Mayne Expos. Lexicon Med. Sci. (1860) 1045/2 In England..the profession is ostensibly divided into three distinct branches, viz. pure physicians, or those who profess to act only in medical cases; pure surgeons, or those who practise surgery alone; and surgeon-apothecaries, or general practitioners.

1883 Encycl. Brit. XV. 752/2 Pure Mechanism, or Applied Kinematics: being the theory of machines considered simply as modifying motion.

1903 Carnegie Inst. Yearbk. 1902 27 The applications of pure physics and pure chemistry from the minutest parts of the earth to the mass of the earth as a whole.

1924 Econ. Jrnl. 34 346 Meanwhile I got a good deal interested in the semi-mathematical side of pure Economics.

1941 ‘G. Orwell’ in Listener 29 May 768/1 James Joyce, was..about as near to being a ‘pure’ artist as a writer can be.

1955 Times 9 May 5/1 The exhibition would attract considerable attention and must help to break down the barrier which existed between commercial and pure art.

1978 P. Griffiths Conc. Hist. Mod. Music iv. 47 His [sc. Debussy's] creative energies were directed..into works of pure music.

2002 Guardian (Nexis) 29 July (Media section) 2 The pure economist would say free trade is good whether or not you have reciprocity.

†f. Linguistics. (a) In ancient Greek: (of a stem) ending in a vowel; (of an ending) following a vowel. (b) In Arabic, etc.: (of a syllable) ending in a vowel, open. Obsolete.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > language > linguistics > study of speech sound > speech sound > vowel > [adjective] > ending in a vowel

pure1650

the mind > language > linguistics > study of speech sound > speech sound > [adjective] > syllable > type of

pure1776

open1845

checked1943

1650 E. Reeve Introd. Greeke Tongue 24 Nounes ending in δα, θα, ρα, or pure α, do make the Genitive in ας.

1650 E. Reeve Introd. Greeke Tongue 24 Adjectives in ις, having ος not pure [e.g. εύπατρις, ευπάτριδος].

1776 J. Richardson Gram. Arabick Lang. v. 14 [Syllables] are divided into pure and mixed; the pure consisting only of one consonant and one vowel,..the mixed of two consonants joined by a vowel.

1818 E. V. Blomfield tr. A. H. Matthiæ Copious Greek Gram. I. 218 Verbs pure, whose final syllable -ω is preceded by a diphthong.

1870 E. Abbott tr. Curtius Elucid. Student's Gr. Gram. i. vi. 57 In the formation of the acc. sing. of Masc. and Fem., the true vowel-nature of the stem declares itself, πόλι-ν, πολύ-ν; and the voc. sing...contains the pure vowel stem.

g. Logic. Designating or relating to a predicate which is affirmed or denied of the subject without a qualification (opposed to modal adj.¹ 1); (of a syllogism) containing such a proposition as its premise. Now historical.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > mental capacity > philosophy > logic > logical proposition > [adjective] > of types of propositions

causalc1530

subalternate1599

equipollent1642

reduplicative1671

subalternating1671

pure1697

poristic1704

desitive1725

inceptive1725

contrary1739

exponible1788

analytic1797

analytical1797

poristical1828

oristica1832

oristicosemeiotica1832

balanced1849

plurative1849

molecular1892

dyadic1897

monadic1897

dispositional1909

non-atomic1934

the mind > mental capacity > philosophy > logic > logical syllogism > [adjective] > of types of syllogism

modal1569

hypothetical1588

prosyllogistical1588

contract1605

prosyllogistic1652

monstrative1653

enthymematic1654

epicheirematic1656

hypothetica1680

pure1697

indirect1728

dialectal1767

tollent1770

conjunctivea1856

hypothetico-disjunctivea1856

schematica1856

unfigureda1856

subsumptive1884

episyllogistic1886

1654 Z. Coke Logick 114 Propositions of the manner necessary are converted so as the pure simply, when they are universal negatives.]

1697 tr. F. Burgersdijck Monitio Logica i. xxviii. 112 A Pure Enunciation is [L. Enunciatio pura est] that in which it is not express'd how the Parts cohere... Modal, in which it is.

1697 tr. F. Burgersdijck Monitio Logica ii. xiv. 60 A Pure [Syllogism] is that which consists of Propositions pure... Modal either of one or both Modal.

1725 I. Watts Logick ii. ii. §4 When a proposition merely expresses that the predicate is connected with the subject, it is called a pure proposition; as, every true christian is an honest man: But when it includes also the way and manner wherein the predicate is connected with the subject, it is called a modal proposition; as, when I say, it is necessary that a true christian should be an honest man.

1827 R. Whately Elements Logic (ed. 2) iii. ii. 106 A Modal Proposition may be stated as a pure one, by attaching the Mode to one of the Terms.

1870 W. S. Jevons Elem. Lessons Logic vii. 69 It has long been usual to distinguish propositions as they are pure or modal.

1993 R. B. Marcus Modalities 56 The early taxonomy of preformal logic distinguished between pure and modal propositions.

h. Originally Economics. Of a surplus or deficit, esp. of money: remaining after all deductions; reckoned independently of other gains, losses, or holdings. Frequently in pure profit, pure earnings.

ΚΠ

1749 T. W. Brit. Sleepers II. 57 The Things being exported being more than we can consume, in respect to our Necessities, they are superfluous, and their whole Produce is a pure Profit.

1799 W. Tooke View Russ. Empire II. 537 If we deduct from this the waste in the coinage, the wages of workmen, and the expence of transport, the remainder is pure profit.

1887 Polit Sci. Q. 2 606 In selling the product for more than this sum total lies the employer's chance of ultimate gain. Pure profit is the return of simple ownership.

1903 C. F. Bastable Public Finance IV. iv. 472 The aim of taxing permanent incomes at a higher rate is accomplished by a tax that does not touch pure earnings.

1964 Jrnl. Finance 19 27 We can now define pure earnings as earnings minus implicit interest, and pure earnings then account for all capital costs.

1992 Observer 2 Feb. 28/4 Soundings from managing agents..indicate that ‘pure’ losses in 1990 will amount to just £390 million.

i. Medicine and Psychology. Of a disease or condition: uncomplicated by any other disease or pathological process. Also (of a patient): suffering from such a disease or condition.

ΚΠ

1771 J. Hill Managem. Gout (ed. 8) ii. 11 The celebrated Englishman who establishes this distinction..supposes the hereditary taint may often be a mixture of scurvy, pox, and stone; as well as a pure gout.

1812 Edinb. Med. & Surg. Rev. 8 365 The frequent paroxysms of difficulty of breathing, not usual in pure phthisis.

1859 J. Bigelow Nature in Dis. (ed. 2) i. 22 Also if inflammatory, or other morbid affections, supervene upon the pure disease, they may become subjects for medical treatment.

1900 Lancet 8 Dec. 1633/2 It is very remarkable..how very rarely in the course of a case of pure tuberculosis this sign appears.

1945 Amer. Jrnl. Psychol. 58 283 Twenty were chosen that represented the ‘pure’ form of maternal overprotection, of which Dr. Levy distinguishes five varieties in all; pure, compensatory for rejection-impulses, mixed pure-and-compensatory, mild, and non-material.

1967 Canad. Med. Assoc. Jrnl. 7 Oct. (Abstracts) 8/2 It is most unlikely that normal feminization at puberty will occur, and testicular removal at any age is generally indicated as in the case of pure gonadal dysgenesis already mentioned.

1976 Amer. Jrnl. Psychiatry 133 2/1 Atypical manic patients, such as schizo-affective patients, do not respond so well to lithium therapy as do ‘pure’ depressive patients.

2002 BusinessWeek 5 Aug. 117/1 An anemia drug..attracted scrutiny after being linked to 141 cases of pure red-cell aplasia, a life-threatening anemia.

j. Phonetics. Of a vowel: not joined with another to form a diphthong.

ΚΠ

1922 Mod. Philol. 20 273 This slow changing movement renders the production of a pure vowel impossible.

1932 D. Jones Outl. Eng. Phonetics (ed. 3) xiv. 63 The term ‘pure’ vowel is used in this book to designate a vowel (during which the organs of speech remain approximately stationary) in contradistinction to a diphthong (during which the organs of speech perform a clearly perceptible movement).

1960 Amer. Jrnl. Philol. 81 210 High frequency of ‘pure vowels’ in initial position..is by no means a general distributional property of all languages.

1996 R. L. Trask Dict. Phonetics & Phonol. 202 A form of monophthongization in which a diphthong is reduced to a pure vowel lying phonetically about halfway between the start point and end point of the original diphthong.

3. Chiefly attributive.

†a. That is the thing itself, not something else; true, real, genuine; very. Obsolete.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > foundation in fact, validity > [adjective] > in its natural state, unsophisticated

purec1300

right1466

sincere1557

in grain?1577

genuine1607

unsophisticate1607

honesta1616

undistracted1656

unsophisticated1664

inartful1714

unabsurd1744

in the raw1785

c1300 St. Michael (Laud) 555 in C. Horstmann Early S.-Eng. Legendary (1887) 315 Man schal in puyr somer selde þondre i-huyre, For þer is þanne selde wete to maken quenchingue of fuyre.; Ne in puyr winter no-þe-mo, for þanne nis non hete.

c1325 (c1300) Chron. Robert of Gloucester (Calig.) 2308 He..sede he was purost [v.r. purest; a1400 Trin. Cambr. puirest] eyr to be icrouned to kinge.

c1385 G. Chaucer Knight's Tale 1279 The pure fettres of his shynes grete Were of his bittre salte teres wete.

c1400 (?c1380) Cleanness (1920) 704 (MED) Wel nyȝe pure paradys moȝt preve no better.

c1425 (c1400) Laud Troy-bk. 6656 (MED) He..persed his Armure..That it come to his fflesche pure.

a1535 T. More Dialoge of Comfort (1553) i. xviii. sig. D.viii Tyll the pure panges of death pulled theyr harte fro theyr play.

b. Used emphatically or as an intensifier: nothing but (the thing specified); sheer, utter, complete, total, unmitigated.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > goodness and badness > quality of being good > perfection > [adjective] > pure or flawless

lutter971

unwemmedc1000

fair?c1225

upright?c1225

purec1300

without lackc1300

completec1380

defaultlessa1425

flush?1550

undefective1599

impeccable1620

indefectivea1641

defectless1651

virginala1659

flawless1659

unflawed1665

indefectuous1685

unblighted1785

immaculate1791

indefectible1833

shadeless1894

flukeless1895

intacta1941

pedicured1988

the world > relative properties > quantity > greatness of quantity, amount, or degree > high or intense degree > [adjective] > utter or absolute

shirea1225

purec1300

properc1380

plainc1395

cleana1400

fine?a1400

entirec1400

veryc1400

starka1425

utterc1430

utterlyc1440

merec1443

absolute1531

outright1532

cleara1535

bloodyc1540

unproachable1544

flat1553

downright1577

sheer1583

right-down?1586

single1590

peremptory1601

perfecta1616

downa1625

implicit1625

every way1628

blank1637

out-and-outa1642

errant1644

inaccessional1651

thorough-paced1651

even down1654

dead1660

double-dyed1667

through stitch1681

through-stitched1682

total1702

thoroughgoing1719

thorough-sped1730

regular1740

plumb1748

hollow1751

unextenuated1765

unmitigated1783

stick, stock, stone dead1796

positive1802

rank1809

heart-whole1823

skire1825

solid1830

fair1835

teetotal1840

bodacious1845

raw1856

literal1857

resounding1873

roaring1884

all out1893

fucking1893

pink1896

twenty-four carat1900

grand slam1915

stone1928

diabolical1933

fricking1937

righteous1940

fecking1952

raving1954

c1300 St. Michael (Laud) 693 in C. Horstmann Early S.-Eng. Legendary (1887) 319 (MED) Euerech of þeos foure elemenz en-tempriez oþur..So þat vnneþe In any Man any riȝ[t] puyr maister is.

c1330 (?a1300) Arthour & Merlin (Auch.) (1973) 3325 (MED) Wiþ pure strengþe of swerdes dint, King Lot he feld, verrament, & was about him to slen.

c1400 (?c1390) Sir Gawain & Green Knight (1940) 1247 (MED) I were glad..At saȝe oþer at seruyce þat I sette myȝt To þe plesaunce of your prys; hit were a pure ioye.

a1450 MS Bodl. 779 in Archiv f. das Studium der Neueren Sprachen (1889) 82 379 (MED) He forsok cristindome & becom al pure heþin.

c1550 Clariodus (1830) v. 2303 Melancholike he brunt of pure invy.

1611 G. Chapman May-day v. 73 His Master hath such a pure beleefe in his wife, that hee's apt to beleeue any good of her.

1694 N. H. Ladies Dict. 69 They are denyed the reading of such wanton Books, only out of pure envy.

1707 E. Ward Wooden World Dissected 31 The Ale-Wives tickle him..with the Title of Captain, which makes him ofttimes stay to get Drunk in their Houses, out of pure Joy and Gratitude.

1794 W. Godwin Caleb Williams II. xi. 218 I believed that misery, more pure than that which I now endured, had never fallen to the lot of a human being.

1863 H. Morford Sprees & Splashes i. 12 All play~goers will remember..a piece of pure nonsense by Brougham, in which an old hunks is intruded upon by his daughter's lover in disguise.

1870 J. Ruskin Let. in Athenæum 30 Sept. (1905) 428/3 Dickens was a pure modernist—a leader of the steam-whistle party par excellence.

1915 J. Turner Let. July in C. Warren Somewhere in France (2019) 16 The Plainsong was pure joy to me—by far the best music yet.

1941 K. A. Porter Let. 7 Jan. (1990) iv. 186 Marriage for me has meant pure disaster, and a strange cruel starvation of the heart.

1967 Times 29 May 6/4 Glissandos on the microtonal harp were pure magic.

1991 F. F. Centore Being & Becoming i. 30 In this light he attacks Hegel's Pure Spirit as pure stupidity.

c. Taken by itself, with nothing added; that is the thing specified, and nothing else; no more than; mere, simple.Often in pure and simple (usually following the noun).

ΘΚΠ

the world > relative properties > wholeness > state or quality of being simple, unmixed, or uncompounded > [adjective] > without addition or qualification > bare or mere

mereeOE

nakedOE

barec1200

purec1325

singlec1421

very1548

nude1551

absolute?1570

blank1596

female1602

clear1606

the world > relative properties > wholeness > state or quality of being simple, unmixed, or uncompounded > [adjective]

shirec888

unmengedeOE

mereeOE

perfecta1393

unmeddleda1425

impermixta1475

unmingled1545

unpermixedc1545

sincere1546

unintermixed1595

immixt1622

untinct1646

single-fold1651

meracious1657

beaten1670

simple1818

pure1831

straight1856

c1325 (c1300) Chron. Robert of Gloucester (Calig.) 794 (MED) He isei þat he moste attenende Vor pur meseise vorfare.

?a1425 Mandeville's Trav. (Egerton) (1889) 144 (MED) Many of þaim diez for pure elde withouten sekeness.

c1480 (a1400) St. Paul 1026 in W. M. Metcalfe Legends Saints Sc. Dial. (1896) I. 58 For pure pytte & Ioy þai gret.

a1513 R. Fabyan New Cronycles Eng. & Fraunce (1516) I. cvii. f. xlviii^v The .ii. sonnes of Mordred were constrayned of pure force to seche stronge holdes for theyr Refuge.

a1616 W. Shakespeare Henry VI, Pt. 2 (1623) ii. i. 159 Alas Sir, we did it for pure need.

1639 T. Fuller Hist. Holy Warre iv. xix. 202 Knowing no more how to sway a sceptre then a pure clown to manage a sword.

1724 A. Collins Disc. Grounds Christian Relig. 79 This distinction is the pure invention of those who make the objection.

1831 Star 31 Jan. Partisans who wish for a re-union pure and simple.

1860 ‘G. Eliot’ Let. 7 June (1954) III. 302 But the most ignorant journalist in England would hardly think of calling me a rival of Miss Mulock—a writer who is read only by novel readers, pure and simple, never by people of high culture.

1861 M. Pattison in Westm. Rev. Apr. 408 His delay in setting out was due to pure procrastination and dilatoriness.

1871 B. Jowett tr. Plato Dialogues I. 27 That of which we are speaking is knowledge pure and simple.

1904 J. Conrad Nostromo i. viii. 110 ‘Sir,’ he used to say afterwards, ‘that was no mistake. It was a fatality. A misfortune, pure and simple, sir.’

1993 Nature 21 Oct. 703/3 The discovery of bacteriophage was pure luck.

2005 When Sat. Comes Dec. 32/2 No hype or promises, just pure facts.

III. Free from corruption or defilement.

a. Free from moral corruption; of unblemished character or nature; morally untainted; guiltless, innocent, guileless. Formerly also with of, from.

ΘΚΠ

society > morality > virtue > purity > [adjective]

cleanlyc888

unwemmedc950

clean971

lightOE

whiteOE

unfiledc1200

shire?c1225

sheenc1275

wemlessc1275

undefouled13..

undefoileda1325

purec1330

unbleckedc1380

unfouledc1380

clear1382

impollutec1384

unblemishedc1400

undefiledc1400

unspottedc1400

virginc1400

spotless?a1430

immaculate1441

uncorruptc1450

unpollushed1490

intemeratea1492

incorrupted1529

unmaculate1535

impolluted1548

crystallinec1550

incorrupt1550

uncorrupted1565

undistained1565

unstained1573

entire1587

taintless1590

untainted1590

stainless1599

unsmirched1604

intemerated1608

indepravate1609

chastea1616

uncurseda1628

undishonested1631

untaint1638

Adamical1649

sincere1649

undebaucheda1656

unaccurseda1674

amiantal1674

unsoiled1699

unpolluted1732

c1330 (?a1300) Arthour & Merlin (Auch.) (1973) 7514 (MED) Þo þat ware ded of our, To heuen brouȝt soule pure, And þe slawen Sarrazine Went into helle pine.

c1400 (c1378) W. Langland Piers Plowman (Laud 581) (1869) B. x. 463 (MED) Souteres..passen..In-to þe blisse of paradys for her pure byleue.

1481 W. Caxton tr. Myrrour of Worlde i. xiv. 48 To saue his sowle whiche God hath lent to hym pure and clene to thende that he shold rendre it such agayn.

a1500 (c1340) R. Rolle Psalter (Univ. Oxf. 64) (1884) xxiii. 4 He..that is pure in werkis and clen in thoghtis.

1526 Bible (Tyndale) Matt. v. f. v Blessed are the pure in herte.

1526 Bible (Tyndale) Acts xx. 26 I am pure from the bloud of all men.

1572 (a1500) Taill of Rauf Coilȝear (1882) 20 In point thay war to parische, thay proudest men and pure.

1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost viii. 506 Nature her self, though pure of sinful thought.

1682 J. Dryden Religio Laici Pref. sig. a2^v Their Descendants lost by little and little the Primitive and Purer Rites.

1719 I. Watts Hymns i. lxxxvi How should the sons of Adam's race Be pure before their God?

1742 W. Law Appeal to All that Doubt iii. 211 Those Mysteries that are only to be approached by those that are of a pure Heart, and who worship God in Spirit and in Truth.

1790 W. Paley Horæ Paulinæ Concl. His morality is everywhere calm, pure, and rational.

1849 T. B. Macaulay Hist. Eng. II. vii. 171 A friendship as warm and pure as any that ancient or modern history records.

1851 Ld. Tennyson To Queen vii Her court was pure; her life serene.

1855 T. B. Macaulay Hist. Eng. III. xiii. 265 He protested..that his hands were pure from the blood of the persecuted Covenanters.

1922 S. Lewis Babbitt xviii. 225 Outlining the plots of films about pure prostitutes and kind-hearted train-robbers.

1935 E. Bowen House in Paris ii. iv. 128 Karen and Max, two people, were her objects; even with them she did not pursue anything; she was pure in heart.

1990 R. Baker There's Country in my Cellar ii. vii. 55 He brings you the finest gift it is possible to present to a university—a pure mind, unused, untouched and unscarred by the education production line.

†b. Applied mockingly to Puritans or Quakers. Obsolete.

ΘΚΠ

society > faith > sect > Christianity > Protestantism > Puritanism > [adjective]

precise1560

Puritant1580

puritan1588

disciplinarian1591

disciplinary1591

pure1598

puritanical1598

puritanian1601

puritanic1606

kneeless1631

prick-eared1641

precisianicala1652

Catharistic1838

perfectionistic1884

hot-gospelling1891

Patarene1902

wowserish1933

1598 J. Marston Scourge of Villanie i. i. sig. B8 Lucilla, new set thy ruffe, tut thou art pure, Canst thou not lispe, (good brather) looke demure?

1602 B. Jonson Poetaster iv. i. sig. G To helpe 'hem to some pure Landresses, out of the City.

1729 H. Carey Poems (ed. 3) 94 The Pure Ones will, I know, with out-stretch'd Voice, Arraign my Judgment, and condemn my Choice.

1785 G. A. Bellamy Apol. Life II. 45 My mother, from being one of the pure ones, had changed her religion to that of a methodist.

5. Sexually undefiled; chaste; virgin.

ΘΚΠ

society > morality > virtue > purity > chastity > [adjective] > chaste

sedefulc1000

chaste?c1225

purec1380

continenta1398

castc1430

chastful1497

unwanton1606

moral1803

c1380 G. Chaucer Second Nun's Tale 48 Thow virgyne wemmelees Bar of thy body, and dweltest mayde pure.

?1435 ( J. Lydgate Minor Poems (1934) ii. 636 Alle cladde in white, in tokne off clennesse, Lyche pure virgynes.

?a1475 Ludus Coventriae (1922) 358 (MED) Heyl, excellent prynces, mary most pure!

a1513 J. Irland Meroure of Wyssdome (1926) I. 101 This haly lady, nete and pure without ony syn.

1588 A. King tr. St. Peter Canisius Catech. in T. G. Law Catholic Tractates (1901) 209 That blissit Marie remaines still puir virgine.

a1616 W. Shakespeare Henry VI, Pt. 1 (1623) v. vi. 83 And yet forsooth she is a Virgin pure .

1671 J. Milton Paradise Regain'd i. 134 The Virgin pure In Galilee.

1710 R. Steele Tatler No. 210. ⁋6 I have lived a pure and undefiled Virgin these Twenty seven Years.

1771 tr. J. M. Horstius Paradise of Soul (ed. 2) App. 21 Hail you, the Sea's bright Star, Who God's pure Mother are.

1820 J. Keats Lamia i, in Lamia & Other Poems 14 A virgin purest lipp'd.

1878 W. E. Barnes Serpent & Dove iii. i. 19 She is as pure as an angel.

1904 Hymns Anc. & Mod. No. 55 A maiden pure and undefiled Is by the Spirit great with child.

2002 NFT Programme Booklet June 25/1 Brigitte Helm's enduring iconic status is based on her extraordinary debut as the pure, virginal Maria.

6. Free from admixture of anything debasing or deteriorating; unadulterated, uncorrupted, uncontaminated; conforming accurately to a standard of quality or style; faultless, correct.

ΘΚΠ

the world > relative properties > wholeness > state or quality of being simple, unmixed, or uncompounded > [adjective] > unadulterated or undiluted

clean883

purea1393

uncorrumpeda1400

uncorrupted1541

sincere1557

stark naked?1594

undelayed1600

unsophisticated1630

entire1640

inadulterate1648

dephlegmated1651

neat1651

unalloyeda1672

intaminateda1695

undrossy1708

net1713

unadulterate1716

unsophistical1736

uncauponateda1752

undiluted1756

absolute1810

undefecated1812

unadulterated1823

undilute1876

undoctored1882

uncut1967

a1393 J. Gower Confessio Amantis (Fairf.) v. 2604 (MED) Sche is the pure hed and welle And Mirour and ensample of goode.

c1400 (?a1300) Kyng Alisaunder (Laud) (1952) 84 Jn pure [a1425 Linc. Inn puyr] manere of bataile.

c1450 (?a1400) Wars Alexander (Ashm.) 3990 (MED) Of þe pure thewis Þat lurkis with-in þis lede, full litill he kennes.

1526 Bible (Tyndale) James i. 27 Pure devocion and undefiled.

1540 J. Palsgrave in tr. G. Gnapheus Comedye of Acolastus Ep. to King sig. Aiij^v In suche places of your realme as the pureste englyshe is spoken.

1617 F. Moryson Itinerary i. 182 At Geneua many French Gentlemen and Students comming thither..did speake pure French.

1668 Bp. J. Wilkins Ess. Real Char. i. i. §4. 5 After the Captivity the pure Hebrew ceased to be Vulgar, remaining onely amongst learned men.

1749 B. Franklin Proposals Educ. Youth Pensilvania in Papers (1961) III. 402 That the Rector be..a correct pure Speaker and Writer of the English Tongue.

1788 E. Gibbon Decline & Fall (1838) V. l. 21 The purest disciples of Zoroaster escaped from the contagion of idolatry.

1849 T. B. Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. ii. 165 They had been oppressed, and oppression had kept them a pure body.

1882 C. Pebody Eng. Journalism xvi. 124 His taste, if severe, was pure.

1999 Independent (Nexis) 4 Apr. (Features section) 5 He tells me proudly that Tuscans speak the ‘purest’ Italian.

7. Free from ceremonial defilement; ritually clean; fit for sacred use. rare after 17th cent.

ΘΚΠ

society > faith > worship > cleanness (ceremonial) > [adjective]

cleanlyc888

cleanc1000

pure1611

1611 Bible (King James) Ezra vi. 20 The Priestes and the Leuites were purified together, all of them were pure, and killed the Passeouer.

1613 S. Purchas Pilgrimage ii. xvi. 165 His [sc. a Jew's] wife hath prepared his dinner, pure meates purely dressed.

2002 J. Magness Archaeol. Qumran & Dead Sea Scrolls v. 87 Pure food and drink stored in sealed vessels in a house or building that became impure would have been rendered impure.

IV. As a general term of appreciation.

†a. slang. Fine, good, excellent, nice. Obsolete.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > goodness and badness > quality of being good > excellence > [adjective]

faireOE

bremea1000

goodlyOE

goodfulc1275

noblec1300

pricec1300

specialc1325

gentlec1330

fine?c1335

singulara1340

thrivena1350

thriven and throa1350

gaya1375

properc1380

before-passinga1382

daintiful1393

principala1398

gradelya1400

burlyc1400

daintyc1400

thrivingc1400

voundec1400

virtuousc1425

hathelc1440

curiousc1475

singlerc1500

beautiful1502

rare?a1534

gallant1539

eximious1547

jolly1548

egregious?c1550

jellyc1560

goodlike1562

brawc1565

of worth1576

brave?1577

surprising1580

finger-licking1584

admirablea1586

excellinga1586

ambrosial1598

sublimated1603

excellent1604

valiant1604

fabulous1609

pure1609

starryc1610

topgallant1613

lovely1614

soaringa1616

twanging1616

preclarent1623

primea1637

prestantious1638

splendid1644

sterling1647

licking1648

spankinga1666

rattling1690

tearing1693

famous1695

capital1713

yrare1737

pure and —1742

daisy1757

immense1762

elegant1764

super-extra1774

trimming1778

grand1781

gallows1789

budgeree1793

crack1793

dandy1794

first rate1799

smick-smack1802

severe1805

neat1806

swell1810

stamming1814

divine1818

great1818

slap-up1823

slapping1825

high-grade1826

supernacular1828

heavenly1831

jam-up1832

slick1833

rip-roaring1834

boss1836

lummy1838

flash1840

slap1840

tall1840

high-graded1841

awful1843

way up1843

exalting1844

hot1845

ripsnorting1846

clipping1848

stupendous1848

stunning1849

raving1850

shrewd1851

jammy1853

slashing1854

rip-staving1856

ripping1858

screaming1859

up to dick1863

nifty1865

premier cru1866

slap-bang1866

clinking1868

marvellous1868

rorty1868

terrific1871

spiffing1872

all wool and a yard wide1882

gorgeous1883

nailing1883

stellar1883

gaudy1884

fizzing1885

réussi1885

ding-dong1887

jim-dandy1888

extra-special1889

yum-yum1890

out of sight1891

outasight1893

smooth1893

corking1895

large1895

super1895

hot dog1896

to die for1898

yummy1899

deevy1900

peachy1900

hi1901

v.g.1901

v.h.c.1901

divvy1903

doozy1903

game ball1905

goodo1905

bosker1906

crackerjack1910

smashinga1911

jake1914

keen1914

posh1914

bobby-dazzling1915

juicy1916

pie on1916

jakeloo1919

snodger1919

whizz-bang1920

wicked1920

four-star1921

wow1921

Rolls-Royce1922

whizz-bang1922

wizard1922

barry1923

nummy1923

ripe1923

shrieking1926

crazy1927

righteous1930

marvy1932

cool1933

plenty1933

brahmaa1935

smoking1934

solid1935

mellow1936

groovy1937

tough1937

bottler1938

fantastic1938

readyc1938

ridge1938

super-duper1938

extraordinaire1940

rumpty1940

sharp1940

dodger1941

grouse1941

perfecto1941

pipperoo1945

real gone1946

bosting1947

supersonic1947

whizzo1948

neato1951

peachy-keen1951

ridgey-dite1953

ridgy-didge1953

top1953

whizzing1953

badass1955

wild1955

belting1956

magic1956

bitching1957

swinging1958

ridiculous1959

a treat1959

fab1961

bad-assed1962

uptight1962

diggish1963

cracker1964

marv1964

radical1964

bakgat1965

unreal1965

pearly1966

together1968

safe1970

bad1971

brilliant1971

fabby1971

schmick1972

butt-kicking1973

ripper1973

Tiffany1973

bodacious1976

rad1976

kif1978

awesome1979

death1979

killer1979

fly1980

shiok1980

stonking1980

brill1981

dope1981

to die1982

mint1982

epic1983

kicking1983

fabbo1984

mega1985

ill1986

posho1989

pukka1991

lovely jubbly1992

awesomesauce2001

nang2002

bess2006

amazeballs2009

boasty2009

daebak2009

beaut2013

1609 B. Jonson Case is Alterd iii. sig. I2^v Is not this pure ?

1675 W. Wycherley Country-wife iii. 32 I was quiet enough, till my Husband told me, what pure lives, the London Ladies live abroad, with their dancing, meeting and junketings.

1695 W. Congreve Love for Love v. i. 81 O I have pure News, I can tell you pure News.

a1726 J. Vanbrugh Journey to London (1728) i. ii. 14 A slice of it [sc. goose pie] before Supper to-night would have been pure.

1747 D. Garrick Miss in her Teens ii. 18 The Door's double-lock'd, and I have the Key in my Pocket. Biddy. That's pure.

1888 W. E. Henley & R. L. Stevenson Deacon Brodie (rev. ed.) i. iii. 28 Oh, such manners are pure, pure, pure.

†b. pure and —: very, truly; entirely, utterly. Cf. and conj.¹ 5. See also sense B. 1. Obsolete (regional in later use).With pure and well cf. sense A. 8c.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > goodness and badness > quality of being good > excellence > [adjective]

faireOE

bremea1000

goodlyOE

goodfulc1275

noblec1300

pricec1300

specialc1325

gentlec1330

fine?c1335

singulara1340

thrivena1350

thriven and throa1350

gaya1375

properc1380

before-passinga1382

daintiful1393

principala1398

gradelya1400

burlyc1400

daintyc1400

thrivingc1400

voundec1400

virtuousc1425

hathelc1440

curiousc1475

singlerc1500

beautiful1502

rare?a1534

gallant1539

eximious1547

jolly1548

egregious?c1550

jellyc1560

goodlike1562

brawc1565

of worth1576

brave?1577

surprising1580

finger-licking1584

admirablea1586

excellinga1586

ambrosial1598

sublimated1603

excellent1604

valiant1604

fabulous1609

pure1609

starryc1610

topgallant1613

lovely1614

soaringa1616

twanging1616

preclarent1623

primea1637

prestantious1638

splendid1644

sterling1647

licking1648

spankinga1666

rattling1690

tearing1693

famous1695

capital1713

yrare1737

pure and —1742

daisy1757

immense1762

elegant1764

super-extra1774

trimming1778

grand1781

gallows1789

budgeree1793

crack1793

dandy1794

first rate1799

smick-smack1802

severe1805

neat1806

swell1810

stamming1814

divine1818

great1818

slap-up1823

slapping1825

high-grade1826

supernacular1828

heavenly1831

jam-up1832

slick1833

rip-roaring1834

boss1836

lummy1838

flash1840

slap1840

tall1840

high-graded1841

awful1843

way up1843

exalting1844

hot1845

ripsnorting1846

clipping1848

stupendous1848

stunning1849

raving1850

shrewd1851

jammy1853

slashing1854

rip-staving1856

ripping1858

screaming1859

up to dick1863

nifty1865

premier cru1866

slap-bang1866

clinking1868

marvellous1868

rorty1868

terrific1871

spiffing1872

all wool and a yard wide1882

gorgeous1883

nailing1883

stellar1883

gaudy1884

fizzing1885

réussi1885

ding-dong1887

jim-dandy1888

extra-special1889

yum-yum1890

out of sight1891

outasight1893

smooth1893

corking1895

large1895

super1895

hot dog1896

to die for1898

yummy1899

deevy1900

peachy1900

hi1901

v.g.1901

v.h.c.1901

divvy1903

doozy1903

game ball1905

goodo1905

bosker1906

crackerjack1910

smashinga1911

jake1914

keen1914

posh1914

bobby-dazzling1915

juicy1916

pie on1916

jakeloo1919

snodger1919

whizz-bang1920

wicked1920

four-star1921

wow1921

Rolls-Royce1922

whizz-bang1922

wizard1922

barry1923

nummy1923

ripe1923

shrieking1926

crazy1927

righteous1930

marvy1932

cool1933

plenty1933

brahmaa1935

smoking1934

solid1935

mellow1936

groovy1937

tough1937

bottler1938

fantastic1938

readyc1938

ridge1938

super-duper1938

extraordinaire1940

rumpty1940

sharp1940

dodger1941

grouse1941

perfecto1941

pipperoo1945

real gone1946

bosting1947

supersonic1947

whizzo1948

neato1951

peachy-keen1951

ridgey-dite1953

ridgy-didge1953

top1953

whizzing1953

badass1955

wild1955

belting1956

magic1956

bitching1957

swinging1958

ridiculous1959

a treat1959

fab1961

bad-assed1962

uptight1962

diggish1963

cracker1964

marv1964

radical1964

bakgat1965

unreal1965

pearly1966

together1968

safe1970

bad1971

brilliant1971

fabby1971

schmick1972

butt-kicking1973

ripper1973

Tiffany1973

bodacious1976

rad1976

kif1978

awesome1979

death1979

killer1979

fly1980

shiok1980

stonking1980

brill1981

dope1981

to die1982

mint1982

epic1983

kicking1983

fabbo1984

mega1985

ill1986

posho1989

pukka1991

lovely jubbly1992

awesomesauce2001

nang2002

bess2006

amazeballs2009

boasty2009

daebak2009

beaut2013

1742 H. Fielding Joseph Andrews I. ii. xiv. 268 They [sc. hogs] were all pure and fat.

1769 W. Romaine Let. 27 Oct. (1795) xxvii. 122 I saw Lady H—— ——, who was pure and well.

1788 C. Smith Emmeline IV. xiv. 340 You would have been pure and happy, to drive about in a one horse chaise.

1838 W. Holloway Gen. Dict. Provincialisms 134/1 Pure, in good health; as ‘I am pure and well.’

1864 J. S. Le Fanu Uncle Silas II. viii. 127 Here's a stone that's pure and flat to sit upon.

1873 Timothy Towser 5 He wor puer an proud ovver ut, too.

c. Chiefly English regional. Well; in good health. Cf. purely adj.

ΚΠ

1839 G. C. Lewis Gloss. Words Herefordshire in Eng. Dial. Dict. (1903) IV. 650/1 My mistress gives her service to you and she is pure.

1854 Notes & Queries 1st Ser. 9 527/1 The word pure is commonly used in Gloucestershire to express being in good health... ‘I hope, Zur, the ladies be all pure.’

a1903 W. F. Rose in Eng. Dial. Dict. (1903) IV. 650/1 [Somerset] ‘How b'ye?’ ‘Pure, thenkye.’

1988 J. Lavers Dict. Isle of Wight Dial. 66 Pure..well.

B. adv.See also Compounds 2.

1. Absolutely, entirely, thoroughly; very; just, really, truly. Now regional (chiefly U.S. and Scottish).Chiefly from sense A. 3b, but in 18th cent. colloquial use with admixture of sense A. 8b.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > [adverb]

mid or with (‥) soothc888

soothfastlya890

soothfastc950

rightOE

yeaOE

soothlyOE

soothOE

trulyc1225

soothrightc1275

purec1300

verament1303

verily1303

purelyc1325

verimentc1325

indeedc1330

veirec1330

soothfully1340

faithlyc1350

of very (due) right?a1366

leallya1375

amenc1384

in soothnessc1386

verya1387

in certaina1400

truea1400

without(en) wougha1400

in veirec1400

in deedc1405

without famec1430

in veramentc1450

utterlyc1460

veritably1481

veritable1490

voirably1501

seriously1644

quite1736

quite1881

the world > relative properties > quantity > greatness of quantity, amount, or degree > high or intense degree > [adverb] > utterly

allOE

outlyOE

thwert-outc1175

skerea1225

thoroughc1225

downrightc1275

purec1300

purelyc1300

faira1325

finelyc1330

quitec1330

quitelyc1330

utterlyc1374

outerlya1382

plainlya1382

straighta1387

allutterly1389

starkc1390

oultrelya1393

plata1393

barec1400

outrightc1400

incomparablyc1422

absolutely?a1425

simpliciter?a1425

staringa1425

quitementa1450

properlyc1450

directly1455

merec1475

incomparable1482

preciselyc1503

clean?1515

cleara1522

plain1535

merely1546

stark1553

perfectly1555

right-down1566

simply1574

flat1577

flatly1577

skire1581

plumb1588

dead?1589

rankly1590

stark1593

sheera1600

start1599

handsmooth1600

peremptory1601

sheerly1601

rank1602

utter1619

point-blank1624

proofa1625

peremptorily1626

downrightly1632

right-down1646

solid1651

clever1664

just1668

hollow1671

entirely1673

blank1677

even down1677

cleverly1696

uncomparatively1702

subtly1733

point1762

cussed1779

regularly1789

unqualifiedly1789

irredeemably1790

positively1800

cussedly1802

heart1812

proper1816

slick1818

blankly1822

bang1828

smack1828

pluperfectly1831

unmitigatedly1832

bodaciously1833

unredeemedly1835

out of sight1839

bodacious1845

regular1846

thoroughly1846

ingrainedly1869

muckinga1880

fucking1893

motherless1898

self1907

stone1928

sideways1956

terminally1974

c1300 St. Kenelm (Laud) 259 in C. Horstmann Early S.-Eng. Legendary (1887) 352 (MED) Þat writ was puyr on Englisch i-write.

a1375 (c1350) William of Palerne (1867) 3093 (MED) I wold socour hire..& pult hire out of þis peril in pure litel while.

a1425 (a1400) Prick of Conscience (Galba & Harl.) (1863) 2499 (MED) Our ille dedys er pur ille wroght, Bot our gud dedis pur gud er noght.

1493 Chastysing Goddes Chyldern (de Worde) sig. Hi/1 It is pure easy..to folow god and serue hym in tyme of tranquylite.

1560 J. Daus tr. J. Sleidane Commentaries f. xxxvij This yere [1522] departed Reucline, a pure aged man [L. aetate gravis].

1710 J. Swift Jrnl. to Stella 23 Sept. (1948) I. 28 Ballygall will be a pure good place for air.

1750 L. Bushe in M. Delany Autobiogr. & Corr. (1861) II. 548 Your amiable and worthy sister is pure well.

1810 Splendid Follies I. 78 The course will be pure swampy in some parts.

1888 S. O. Addy Gloss. Words Sheffield 183 ‘Pure well’ is very well.

1901 ‘M. E. Francis’ Pastorals of Dorset 269 I be pure sorry they Boers haven't a-done it for en.

1928 J. M. Peterkin Scarlet Sister Mary iii. 27 My jaws pure leak water just to look at em.

1932 W. Faulkner Light in August xv. 332 He was pure crazy by now, standing on the corner and yelling at whoever would pass.

1967 N. Mailer Why are we in Vietnam? v. 83 He inquires after Big Ollie's second gun, knowing pure well there is only the Remington 721.

1993 I. Welsh Trainspotting 71 Lizzy tells us that she pure fancies going to the pictures to see The Accused.

2. Qualifying an adjective of colour (chiefly white): purely, with no admixture of any other colour. Not always clearly distinguishable from the adjective when pure white is used attributively and the adjective might easily modify the noun, as pure white rose, etc.

ΘΚΠ

the world > matter > colour > quality of colour > [adverb] > pure or clear

purec1325

purely1509

c1325 (c1300) Chron. Robert of Gloucester (Calig.) 182 So clene & vair & pur ȝwit [v.r. purwyt] among oþere men hit [read hij; v.r. heo; a1400 Trin. Cambr. hij] beþ.

1530 J. Palsgrave Lesclarcissement 259/2 Pure white sylke, soye bissine.

1594 R. Barnfield Affectionate Shepheard ii. xxxix. sig. Di For pure white the Lilly beares the Bell.

a1616 W. Shakespeare Winter's Tale (1623) iii. iii. 21 In pure white Robes Like very sanctity she did approach.

a1618 J. Sylvester New-polished Spectacles in tr. G. de S. Du Bartas Diuine Weekes & Wks. (1621) 1183 The Lilly (first) pure-whitest Flowr of any.

1688 H. Walker tr. C. Gallus in J. Barker Poet. Recreations ii. 220 Her pure white Hair around her shoulders spread.

1710 A. Philips Pastorals i. 5 A Lambkin too, pure white.

1777 H. Mackenzie Julia de Roubigné I. xvi. 167 Her bosom looked as pure white as the driven snow.

1805 M. Lewis Jrnl. 8 July in Jrnls. Lewis & Clark Exped. (1987) IV. 367 The spaces between..is marked by ranges of pure white circular spots.

1853 W. Gregory Inorg. Chem. (ed. 3) 256 Gold is distinguished by its pure yellow colour.

1910 Encycl. Brit. I. 780/1 Others are pure white or of varying shades of yellow or green.

1922 Endocrinology 6 222 A litter of eight pure black rats.

2002 S. J. Gould Struct. Evolutionary Theory v. 389 The Holy Ghost, depicted as a pure white dove in many medieval paintings.

†3. Purely (in various senses); simply, merely; rightly; chastely. Obsolete. rare.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > goodness and badness > quality of being good > perfection > [adverb] > without flaw, corruption, damage, etc.

scathelya1375

purea1500

inviolatelya1513

purely1537

with (the) safety of?1560

untaintedly1611

immaculately1620

pluperfectly1831

scathelessly1844

faultlessly1856

unaccusably1859

specklessly1862

impeccably1874

flawlessly1884

flecklessly1891

society > morality > virtue > purity > [adverb]

cleanlyc1200

shirelyc1230

purely?a1425

undefiledly1548

sincerely1578

unspottedly1598

purea1616

immaculately1620

intemeratelya1631

spotlesslya1671

stainlessly1882

the world > relative properties > wholeness > state or quality of being simple, unmixed, or uncompounded > [adverb] > simply, only, or merely

butOE

onlya1325

alone?c1335

purelya1375

alonelya1400

nobbuta1400

simplya1400

plain1535

barely1577

merelyc1580

purea1616

singly1655

just1668

sommer1835

maara1931

a1500 (a1475) G. Ashby Dicta Philosophorum 590 in Poems (1899) 69 (MED) A kynge shude be right besy and studious To gouerne his Roiaulme & his people pure.

a1616 W. Shakespeare Twelfth Night (1623) v. i. 79 For his sake, Did I expose my selfe (pure for his loue) Into the danger.

a1616 W. Shakespeare Hamlet (1623) iii. iv. 149 O throw away the worser part of it, And liue the purer with the other halfe.

C. n.

†1. That which is pure; purity. Obsolete (poetic in later use). [In quots. a1382¹ and a1382² rendering post-classical Latin ad purum purely (4th cent.), lit. ‘to the pure’ (classical Latin pūrum, use as noun of neuter of pūrus, is only attested denoting a clear, unclouded sky).]

ΘΚΠ

society > morality > virtue > purity > [noun] > that which is pure

purea1382

a1382 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Bodl. 959) 3 Kings xiv. 10 I schal clensen þe relikes of þe hous of Jeroboam, as is wont to ben clensyd muc vn to þe pure [a1425 L.V. til to the purete, ether clennesse; L. usque ad purum].

a1382 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Bodl. 959) (1969) Isa. i. 25 I shal sethen out to þe pure [a1425 L.V. to the cleene; L. ad purum] þi dros.

1593 T. Lodge in R. S. Phœnix Nest 50 Hir eies shrowd pitie, pietie, and pure.

1662 K. Evans & S. Chevers Short Relation Cruel Sufferings 60 That is the Enemies opportunity to step in..and to vail the pure, and darken the understanding.

1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost viii. 627 Union of Pure with Pure.

1873 R. Browning Red Cotton Night-cap Country ii. 117 How heaven's own pure may seem To blush.

1874 Ld. Tennyson Merlin & Vivien (new ed.) in Wks. VI. 10 The mask of pure Worn by this court.

1898 G. Meredith Odes French Hist. 6 Earth's warrior Best To win Heaven's Pure.

a. With the. Pure people as a class; those people considered or considering themselves to be untainted by immorality.

ΚΠ

c1440 (?c1350) in G. G. Perry Relig. Pieces in Prose & Verse (1914) 31 (MED) Þe gude folke þat are in religion..are sothefastly pure, and þairs es þe Ioye of heuen, For þat es the benyson of þe pure.

1526 Bible (Tyndale) Titus i. 15 Unto the pure are all thynges pure.

a1586 Sir P. Sidney Psalms xviii Pure to the pure, thou deal'st with the crooked crookedly.

a1627 (a1598) A. Montgomerie Poems (2000) lxiii. 103 Quhat Justice sauld! vhat pilling of the pure!

1721 R. Blackmore New Version Psalms i. 2 The Wicked cannot..enter..Th' Assembly of the Pure.

?1805 S. T. Coleridge Ad Vilmum Axiologum in Poems No. 189. 392 List! the Hearts of the Pure, like caves in the ancient mountains.

1895 G. Allen Woman who Did vii. 80 Herminia, for her part, never discovered she was talked about. To the pure all things are pure.

1914 B. Tarkington Penrod v. 31 I am the purest of the pure. I have but kindest thoughts each day.

1992 Economist 22 Feb. 64/1 Sikhs want an independent homeland called Khalistan, or land of the Pure.

†b. A genuine person. Obsolete. rare.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > sincerity, freedom from deceit > [noun] > sincere person

Honest John1855

straight goods1892

pure1924

straight arrow1969

1924 W. M. Raine Troubled Waters xix. 201 You-all are losing a better man than Missie ever had. He's a pure, Mac is.

†3. ‘Pured’ fur: see pured n., purray n. Obsolete.

ΘΚΠ

society > occupation and work > materials > raw material > skin or hide > skin with hair attached or fur > [noun] > of squirrel

strandlingc1299

vaira1300

miniverc1300

calaber1362

pured miniver1379

purray1429

pured?1435

squirrel1436

pople1493

pure1512

amice1548

squirrel1827

1512 in J. B. Paul Accts. Treasurer Scotl. (1902) IV. 215 For lyning of the said Tanne weluus goune within with puyr.

†4. slang. A kept mistress. Obsolete.

ΘΚΠ

society > morality > moral evil > licentiousness > unchastity > [noun] > illicit intimacy > person > a mistress

chevesea700

wifeOE

bed-sister1297

concubine1297

leman1297

file1303

speciala1400

womanc1400

chamberer?a1425

mistress?a1439

cousin1470

doxy?1515

doll1560

pinnacea1568

nobsya1575

lier-by1583

sweetheart1589

she-friend1600

miss1606

underput1607

concupy1609

lig-by1610

factoress1611

leveret1617

night-piece1621

belly-piece1632

dolly1648

lie-bya1656

madamc1660

small girl1671

natural1674

convenient1676

lady of the lake1678

pure1688

tackle1688

sultana1703

kind girl1712

bosom-slave1728

pop1785

chère amie1792

fancy-woman1819

hetaera1820

fancy-piece1821

poplolly1821

secondary wife1847

other woman1855

fancy-girl1892

querida1902

wifelet1983

1688 T. Shadwell Squire of Alsatia ii. i. 32 Where's..the Blowing, that is to be my Natural, my Convenient, my Pure.

1699 B. E. New Dict. Canting Crew Pure, a Mistress.

5. Medicine. Originally: a surgeon or physician who does not dispense medication. In later use: a hospital surgeon; a consultant surgeon. Cf. sense A. 2e. Obsolete (historical in later use).

ΘΚΠ

the world > health and disease > healing > healer > specialist > [noun]

pure1827

specialist1839

1827 Lancet 15 Dec. 434/2 Do the Pures profess a kind of surgery in the abstract?

1843 J. Paget Let. 19 Dec. in Mem. & Lett. (1901) vi. 148 The election of the pures in London was not I am told general. [Editor's note, 1901] The ‘pures’ were the surgeons in consulting practice.

1881 Lancet 10 Dec. 1021/1 The ‘pure’ foreseeing that in paying much attention to one organ there would be a natural tendency to forget the rest of the body,..did not fail to point this out... It was a mixture of these two feelings which led the older ‘pures’ to exclaim..against special practice and to cause them to treat all special practitioners as ‘specialists’.

6. Also pewer, puer. Tanning. Canine or other faeces used as an alkaline lye in which to steep hides. Now historical.

ΘΚΠ

society > occupation and work > materials > derived or manufactured material > leather > leather-making materials > [noun] > other leather-making materials

sabrasc1480

stuff1812

pure1842

bran-drench1883

moellon1897

sig1897

plumper1903

1842 Penny Mag. May 212/1 A solution called the ‘pure’ or the ‘pewer’ (having never seen the word written.., we must spell it as pronounced) is prepared in a large vessel, and into this the skins are immersed.

1851 H. Mayhew London Labour II. 142/1 Dogs'-dung is called ‘Pure’, from its cleansing and purifying properties.

1938 R. Hum Chem. for Engin. Students xxviii. 775 In the case of soft pliable leathers, another process is also used, before passing on to the tanning. This is known as the Puer or Bates Process, and consists in soaking, in a warm mixture of water and dog's or bird's dung, for two or three days.

1946 Thorpe's Dict. Appl. Chem. (ed. 4) VII. 264/2 Modern artificial bates have replaced almost completely the older ‘dung bate’ or puer, an infusion of dog- or, less often, pigeon-dung.

7. slang (originally U.S.). Unadulterated or uncut heroin or (sometimes) cocaine.

ΚΠ

1955 in Illicit Narcotics Traffic (U.S. Senate Comm. on Judiciary) (1956) vii. 2409 I think an ounce of pure cost about a hundred dollars then.

1967 ‘Iceberg Slim’ Pimp iv. 79 Musta' shot some ‘pure’, cause a lookout on the sidewalk heard him mumble before he croaked. ‘Well kiss my dead mammy's ass if this ain't the best “smack” I ever shot.’

1986 ‘E. McBain’ Cinderella v. 68 Two kilos of pure, that was a bit more than seventy ounces.

1992 Guardian 28 Mar. (Weekend Suppl.) 10/4 I am re-packaging six ounces of Columbian pure for the scousers who are due any minute.

Compounds

C1. Compounds of the adjective.

pure-bosomed adj.

ΚΠ

1800 W. Cowper Poems (new ed.) I. 315 Blessing and blest where'er she goes, Pure-bosom'd as that wat'ry glass, And heav'n reflected in her face.

1852 Ladies Repository Jan. 40/2 She who does otherwise, does that which no high-aiming, pure-bosomed female could do—she pollutes her marriage vow.

2004 Jrnl. Ecumenical Stud. (Nexis) 1 Jan. Mary became selfless, and in this selflessness she said, ‘I will leap into God's protection’, because that pure-bosomed one could take herself to the Unseen.

pure-coloured adj.

ΚΠ

1721 C. K. Art's Master-piece (ed. 5) ii. i. 88 When 'tis pure colour'd work it as you please.

1891 W. Morris News from Nowhere xxi. 158 I looked around my little sleeping chamber and saw the pale but pure-coloured figures painted on the plaster of the wall.

1910 Encycl. Brit. I. 509/1 When one of these albinoes is bred with a pure coloured individual, a mixed offspring will appear in the first generation.

1993 Metrop. Mus. Jrnl. 28 188 The young artist also turned to bolder pure-colored wet-wash practices as a model.

pure-eyed adj.

ΚΠ

1637 J. Milton Comus 8 O welcome pure-ey'd Faith, white-handed Hope..And thou unblemish't forme of Chastitie.

1793 W. Kendall Poems 47 Lo! pure-eyed virtue lends her aid To celebrate a spotless maid.

1891 G. Meredith One of our Conquerors III. x. 202 The tall pure-eyed girl before him, was, young though she was, already in the fight with evil.

1931 Weekly Kansas City (Missouri) Star 10 June 6/3 ‘I believe you’, said Belinda, pure-eyed and trustful, ‘yet there is something, something that you are keeping from me’.

1997 Guardian (Nexis) 19 June 19 The pure-eyed battles these people couldn't refrain from fighting.

† pure-mannered adj. Obsolete

ΚΠ

a1863 W. M. Thackeray Miscellanies (1877) IV. 530/1 The most spotless, pure-mannered darling of a princess that ever married a heartless debauchee of a Prince Royal.

pure-natured adj.

ΚΠ

1855 W. Bagehot Coll. Wks. (1965) I. 319 They are emphatically pure~natured and firm-natured. Instinctively casting aside the coarse temptations and crude excitements of a vulgar earth, [etc.].

1913 J. Masefield Daffodil Fields 12 Gentle she seemed, pure-natured, thoughtful, wise.

2002 Sunday Tel. (Nexis) 5 May 14 [Vautrin's] sanctification of his women characters, be they tarts with hearts..[or] pure-natured factory girls ravished by the bourgeoisie.

pure-sighted adj.

ΚΠ

1596 E. Spenser Hymne Heauenly Loue in Fowre Hymnes 276 All earthes glorie..[will] Seeme durt and drosse in thy pure-sighted eye.

1638 R. Brathwait Psalmes of David 28 Just therefore, as my Justice stands, the Lord to mee supplies: Rewards the purenesse of my hands in his pure-sighted eies.

1898 Nebraska State Jrnl. 23 Jan. 13/1 We are made to see the world—that is, her world—through her eyes, which are perfectly pure-sighted... Her child-soul remains unsullied.

1997 Los Angeles Times (Nexis) 19 Oct. 7 He became known as a recluse, his ‘appearance’ in poetry pure-sighted and merciless.

pure-souled adj.

ΚΠ

1830 E. Duros Derwentwater I. 155 Has thy pure souled loyalty led only to this reward?

1898 R. Kipling Day's Work 78 He ain't any high-toned, pure-souled child o' nature.

1910 F. M. Ford Let. 28 Oct. (1965) 45 When you—the unscrupulous villain and I, the pure-souled Idealist join forces how that dovecote will flutter!

2006 Guardian (Nexis) 7 Jan. (Review section) 7 There are few heroes in it,..none of Kafka's own pure-souled sufferers; everyone is stained, contaminated, implicated.

pure-toned adj.

ΚΠ

1831 N. Amer. Rev. Jan. 91 She has the strong sense, the quiet energy, the pure-toned feeling, the absence of affectation,..which would secure the highest esteem and admiration in real life.

1927 Musical Times 68 269/2 This happy body of choralists has established a well-merited reputation for balanced and pure-toned singing.

1993 Classic CD Oct. 62/4 Surprisingly pure-toned for Debussy, her performance..is refreshing.

pure-breeding n. and adj. (a) n. the production of genetically similar progeny (cf. pure-bred adj.); (b) adj. producing genetically similar progeny.

ΚΠ

1903 Biometrika 2 171 This does not help us to decide whether the relative inability to transmit whiteness is due to in-breeding or pure-breeding.

1922 R. C. Punnett Mendelism (ed. 6) ix. 88 The cock in a pure breeding strain of Plymouth Rocks is homozygous for the barring factor.

1964 D. Michie in G. H. Haggis et al. Introd. Molecular Biol. viii. 206 Griffith injected mice with living pneumococci of a pure-breeding strain lacking the polysaccharide capsule characteristic of most members of this species.

1990 Dogworld Aug. 109/2 Pure breeding is fine when things are going well, but disastrous when inbred faults such as weak hindquarters are being perpetuated.

pure-cone adj. Zoology (of an animal, or its eye or retina) having only cones as photoreceptors.

ΘΚΠ

the world > animals > animal body > general parts > head and neck > [adjective] > having an eye or eyes > having cones as photoreceptors

pure-cone1932

1932 Bull. Antivenin Inst. Amer. 5 69/1 The pure-cone reptilian eye not being subject to dazzle at ordinary intensities is served quite well by a round pupil, while a rod-and-cone eye such as that of the rattlesnake must have an elliptical pupil.

1962 Science Survey 3 243 One of the American ground squirrels, one of the few mammalian species known to have a pure-cone retina and to be strongly diurnal.

1997 Vision Res. 37 1867 In the pure-cone American chameleon retina, all visual opsins including rod opsin are expressed.

pure culture n. Microbiology a culture in which only one strain or clone is present.

ΘΚΠ

the world > life > biology > laboratory analysis > material > [noun] > culture or medium

culture1880

blood culture1881

cultivation1881

culture medium1883

pure culture1883

agar1885

broth1885

subculture1885

tube-culture1886

bouillon1887

stab-culture1889

streak culture1892

blood agar1893

microculture1893

shake culture1894

streak plate1895

broth culture1897

slant1899

plating1900

stock culture1903

touch preparation1908

tissue culture1912

plaque1924

slope1925

agar-agar1929

isolate1931

MacConkey1938

auxanogram1949

lawn1951

monolayer1952

replica plate1952

1883 Science 23 Nov. 677/1 A decision of the question..can only be settled experimentally by collecting the bacteria from the diseased tissue, breeding them by ‘pure culture’, and then reproducing the disease by infection experiments on animals.

1930 Forestry 4 66 It seemed possible..that pure culture experiments..might also yield some information..on the origin of the mycorrhizal habit in trees.

1997 Appl. & Environmental Microbiol. 63 4097/2 This is the first report on the isolation and characterization of a pure culture of bacteria capable of mineralizing TCP and using it as a sole source of carbon and energy.

pure ego n. Philosophy and Psychology (chiefly in phenomenological thought) the essential, transcendental self that exists prior to, and is unchanged by, experience.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > mental capacity > psychology > states of consciousness > superconsciousness > [noun] > transcendental self

pure ego1851

1851 J. J. G. Wilkinson Human Body 283 Those who attach themselves to the ‘pure Ego’ as having an independent life in itself.

1890 W. James Princ. Psychol. I. x. 296 By the Spiritual Self, so far as it belongs to the Empirical Me, I mean a man's inner or subjective being, his psychic faculties or dispositions, taken concretely; not the bare principle of personal Unity, or ‘pure’ Ego.

1931 W. R. B. Gibson tr. E. Husserl Ideas ii. ii. 145 The thesis of my pure Ego and its personal life which is ‘necessary’ and plainly indubitable, thus stands opposed to the thesis of the world which is contingent.

1961 G. W. Allport Devel. of Personality vi. 129 Kant argued that..the knowing self is just there, a transcendental or pure ego.

1974 G. L. Breckon tr. A. de Muralt Idea of Phenomenol. §52. 328 The pure ego is therefore the subject of transcendental constitution, the ego pole of intentionality, the centre and point of departure of every intentional function.

1998 Critical Inq. 25 29 No soul, no pure ego, no extrapolated physical presence that would testify to a person's unique, unreplicable identity.

pure food n. (also Pure Food) attributive of, relating to, or concerned with the promotion of food that is free from preservatives, colouring, or other additives, or cultivated without the use of chemical fertilizers (cf. organic adj. 8c).

ΘΚΠ

the world > food and drink > food > qualities of food > [adjective] > pure or organic

pure food1894

organic1960

1894 Jrnl. Franklin Inst. Apr. 267 Senator Paddock, of Nebraska..after years of futile struggle, succeeded in having the Senate pass what is known as the Pure Food Bill.

1913 Collier's Weekly 16 Aug. 24/2 The clubwomen of Idaho are banded together to have their State known as a pure-food State.

1923 P. G. Wodehouse Inimitable Jeeves xvi. 214 I was feeling more or less like something the Pure Food Committee had rejected.

1969 ‘I. Drummond’ Man with Tiny Head xiv. 161 He was..a pure-food fanatic with a hatred of chemical fertilisers.

2000 A. Cooper & L. M. Holmes Bitter Harvest i. 15 A pure food law introduced to Congress in 1889 was virtually laughed off the floor.

pure-hearted adj. and n. (a) adj.pure of heart; (b) n.(with the) pure-hearted people as a class.

ΚΠ

1613 W. Leighton Teares or Lament. 155 All yee that are pure hearted men, in great [printed grear] Iehouah, still reioyce.

1702 L. Echard Gen. Eccl. Hist. i. iv. 67 To the Pure-hearted, who shou'd see God.

1813 S. T. Coleridge Coll. Lett. (1959) III. 461 Two virtuous, pure-hearted..Women.

1832 J. G. Whittier in S. T. Pickard Life & Lett. J. G. Whittier (1894) I. iii. 108 Those who o'er our tarnished honor grieve..the pure-hearted and the gifted.

1927 V. Woolf To Lighthouse i. iv. 39 Praise would be an insult to you; generous, pure-hearted, heroic man!

1994 Film Comment Sept.–Oct. 63/1 Her independent, pally-aggressive, tarnished but purehearted heroine.

1996 N.Y. Rev. Bks. 1 Feb. 8/3 The simple-minded (as they used to be more accurately called) are also the pure-hearted.

pure-jet adj. and n. Aeronautics (a) adj. designating engines, aircraft, etc., in which all thrust is provided directly by the exhaust jet, without the assistance of fans or propellers; (b) n. a pure-jet engine or aircraft.

ΘΚΠ

society > travel > air or space travel > a means of conveyance through the air > aeroplane > [adjective] > having jet or turbo-jet engines

multi-jet1910

pure-jet1944

turbojet1945

twin-jet1946

society > travel > air or space travel > a means of conveyance through the air > aeroplane > parts of aircraft > means of propulsion > [adjective] > types of jet engine

ramjet1942

pure-jet1944

propeller turbine1945

turbojet1945

turbopropeller1947

fan-lift1961

reheated1961

1944 Times 26 May 2/1 There were three possible lines of development—the pure jet propulsion turbine unit, the combined jet and airscrew turbine unit, and the composite piston engine-turbine unit.

1951 N.Y. Times Mag. 21 Oct. 59/2 Certainly, the pure jet does land a little ‘hotter’ than the propeller plane.

1960 C. H. Gibbs-Smith Aeroplane xvi. 127 Turboprop engines are ideal for commercial airliners whose operations take them too far from the optimum conditions of altitude and speed necessary for the economic use of the pure jet.

1986 Aviation News July 177/1 As far back as 25 July 1949, more than a year before hopes of the pure-jet XF-88 were dashed, [etc.].

pure line n. and adj. [after German reine Linie ( W. Johannsen Ueber Erblichkeit in Populationen u. in reinen Linien (1903) 9)] Genetics and Agriculture (a) n. an inbred line of descent; (b) adj. belonging to such a line.

ΘΚΠ

the world > life > biology > biological processes > genetic activity > heredity or hereditary descent > [noun] > descent from common ancestor > inbreeding > inbred line

pure line1903

1903 New Phytologist 2 236 These passages give the aim of Professor Johannsen's work, viz. the elucidation of the statistical laws of heredity for the race by the study of the corresponding laws for the ‘pure line’, i.e. the posterity of a single self-fertilised individual.

1932 Discovery Oct. 320/2 In the cotton industry we have the magnificent succession of ‘pure lines’ particularly in the Egyptian cottons.

1965 ‘Lauchmonen’ Old Thom's Harvest i. 5 When I get my credit-bank money to buy pure-line seeds them ricefields gwine be planted again.

2004 Jrnl. Animal Sci. 82 1902/1 The advantages of crossbred pigs over pure line pigs were substantial for all traits.

pure-minded adj. having a pure mind, pure of mind.

ΚΠ

1789 H. Mustafa tr. Ghulam Husain Khan Sëir Mutaqharin I. 452 The merits of my pure-minded [Persian pākīza-nafas] and immaculate bodied..ancestors.

a1822 P. B. Shelley Peter Bell III vi, in Poet. Wks. (?1840) 245/1 The most sublime, religious, Pure-minded Poet.

1892 R. L. Stevenson & L. Osbourne Wrecker iii. 43 To be pure-minded, to be patriotic, to get culture and money with both hands and with the same irrational fervour.

1912 Catholic Encycl. XIV. 664/1 The pure-minded novice drove the temptress from his room.

2006 Edmonton (Alberta) Jrnl. (Nexis) 11 Feb. e1 The pure-minded do-gooder types who inhabit the colourful, idealized New York of Damon Runyon's short stories.

pure-mindedness n. the quality of being pure-minded; purity of mind.

ΚΠ

1799 tr. I. Kant Ess. & Treat. II. 385 Whoever possesses such a pure mindedness [Ger. lautere Gesinnung] as is required, is certain that he never can fall so low as to be once more in love with the bad.

1863 M. Arnold in Fraser's Mag. Jan. 49/2 Treasures..of pure-mindedness.

1891 G. Meredith One of our Conquerors III. vii. 135 He might have put a reluctant faith in the puremindedness of these aspirations, without reverting to her origin.

2000 Weekly Standard (Nexis) 7 Feb. 4 Where, after all, does one send a child to educate her in bravery and pure-mindedness?

pure play n. Stock Market and Business (chiefly U.S.) a company that focuses exclusively on one particular market or commodity; (now also) a company whose products are available only via the internet.

ΚΠ

1969 Wall St. Jrnl. 23 June 33 For more aggressive investors, Loeb-Rhoades choices in the field are Monroe Auto Equipment and Midas International (over-the-counter). These..companies are viewed as the ‘pure plays’ in the field.

1996 Computer Reseller News 1 July 31/2 We're the only large pure play on the Internet or intranet that actually has revenue profits.

2000 Wired Apr. (Special Advt. section) How many people can name more than a couple of ‘pure play’ ecommerce sites (businesses without a bricks-and-mortar component) that are actually turning a profit?

2003 D. L. Scott Wall St. Words (ed. 3) 295 An investor who believes that snowmobiles are the wave of the future will search for a pure play in snowmobiles.

pure-relational adj. Linguistics (now rare) designating an element that describes a relationship between objects which is part of the basic structure of the grammar of a language, e.g. a case of a noun; (also) designating a language rich in or characterized by such forms.

ΚΠ

1921 E. Sapir Lang. v. 107 Pure Relational Concepts (purely abstract): normally expressed by affixing non-radical elements to radical elements..or by their inner modification, by independent words, or by position; serve to relate the concrete elements of the proposition to each other, thus giving it definite syntactic form.

1921 E. Sapir Lang. vi. 145 Languages that keep the syntactic relations pure and that do not possess the power to modify the significance of their radical elements by means of affixes or internal changes. We may call these Pure-relational non~deriving languages or, more tersely, Simple Pure-relational languages. These are the languages that cut most to the bone of linguistic expression.

1944 R. A. Hall Hungarian Gram. (Language Monograph No. 21) 22 There are three fundamental types of suffixes which are added to substantives: derivational (the plural suffix), concrete-relational (the personal possessive suffixes, expressing ownership of the object denoted by the noun, on the part of the person indicated by the suffix), and pure-relational (twenty suffixes, including the accusative, whose addition gives the substantive adverbial function).

1963 N. N. Poppe Tatar Man. ii. 34 Pure-relational suffixes are added to the concrete-relational (possessive) suffixes... The pure-relational suffixes serve to denote the relations between an object and other objects or between an object and an action. The system of pure-relational forms is what is commonly called ‘declension’.

pure-rod adj. Zoology (of an animal, or its eye or retina) having only rods as photoreceptors.

ΘΚΠ

the world > animals > animal body > general parts > head and neck > [adjective] > having an eye or eyes > having rods as photoreceptors

pure-rod1932

1932 G. L. Walls in Bull. Antivenin Inst. Amer. 5 69/1 The pure-rod eye sometimes has a pupil which is capable of absolute closure, as in many geckoes.

1962 Science Survey 3 242 In ‘pure-rod’ eyes the retinal structure is always the limiting factor for visual acuity and in these eyes it is always poor.

1992 Proc. National Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 89 6841 In spite of the pure-rod morphology of the photoreceptor cells, the biochemical properties of P521 and P467 resemble those of iodopsin (the chicken red-sensitive cone visual pigment) and rhodopsin.

pure villeinage n. [after post-classical Latin villenagium purum (from 13th cent. in British legal sources), Middle French pure vilenage (1496 or earlier in the passage translated in quot. c1523)] Medieval History a form of villeinage in which the terms of service were not specified or limited, as distinguished from privileged villeinage.

ΚΠ

c1523 J. Rastell tr. Tenuris sig. Aiii^v/2 To hold in pure villennage [Fr. en pure vilenage] is to do all that the lord wyll hym commaunde.

1787 W. Muchall in tr. C. Saint German Doctor & Student (ed. 17) ii. xviii. 157 (note) While they perform the services which that custom imposes upon them, (light and easy as they are compared with the drudgery of pure villeinage in its orginal state).

1857 Times 26 Dec. 9/2 The relation, which had orginally been that of ‘privileged villenage’, was thus soon converted here and there into ‘pure villenage’.

1991 R. J. Steinfeld Invention Free Labor iv. 120 Apprenticeship, the form of English service that involved binding for long years and that earlier commentators had described as most like pure villeinage.

C2. Combinations of the adverb with past participles.

pure-driven adj.

ΚΠ

1875 H. Ellison Stones from Quarry 311 Hiding all his failings as pure driven, Unsullied snow the stains on gravestones does.

1919 Ogden (Utah) Standard 24 June 5 It will eat away all stains and leave your tub as white as pure driven snow.

1988 Mountain Democrat (Placerville, Calif.) 7 Sept. a4 A wonderously woven sling [sc. sling-back shoe] in tan or pure driven white.

pure-living adj.

ΚΠ

a1869 R. Leighton Reuben & other Poems (1875) ii. ii. 59 The cock that crows up all pure-living things, Warns us, like guilty spectres, to our lairs.

1896 Abp. Benson in Nat. Church Feb. 51/2 Pray we for a temperate, a pure-living people.

2006 Mail on Sunday (Nexis) 2 Apr. (You Mag.) 32 She's restrained enough only to smoke one and politely asks permission, first while sipping on an antioxidant green tea. Quite a yin-and-yang combination, albeit still not one that would meet with her pure-living parents' approval.

pure-washed adj.

ΚΠ

a1729 E. Taylor Poems (1960) 333 A flock of pure Washt Sheep more white.

1802 R. Bloomfield Rural Tales 76 On the pure-wash'd sand.

1993 Taste Aug.–Sept. 55/2 The espresso experts..warn against using pure washed arabicas in a blend.

C3. Objective compounds of the noun (in sense C. 6).

pure collector n.

ΚΠ

1851 H. Mayhew London Labour II. 142/2 There are about 30 tanyards..and these all have their regular Pure collectors.

2006 Express (Nexis) 24 Apr. 43 We might never know the misery endured by the Pure Collector, who collected dog dirt from the streets and sold it to leather-makers.

pure-finder n.

ΚΠ

1851 H. Mayhew London Labour II. 142/1 The name of ‘Pure-finders’..has been applied to the men engaged in collecting dogs'-dung from the..streets.

1961 Times 17 Aug. 11/2 There is perhaps some Schadenfreude involved in reading about all those orphans and mudlarks and pure-finders.

2005 Philadelphia Inquirer (Nexis) 30 Oct. h7 She is particularly informative about the working poor whose livelihood depended on the sewers—the ‘flushers’ and ‘gangers’, ‘toshers’ and ‘pure finders’, who survived by (literally) paddling through the leavings of others.

This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2007; most recently modified version published online June 2022).

单词	pure
释义	pureadj.adv.n. Brit. /pjʊə/, /pjɔː/, U.S. /pjʊ(ə)r/ Forms: Middle English perrour (comparative, transmission error), Middle English peure, Middle English poere, Middle English por (south-west midlands), Middle English pore, Middle English poure, Middle English powre, Middle English puȝr, Middle English puir, Middle English puire, Middle English pur, Middle English puyr, Middle English puyre, Middle English–1500s peur, Middle English–1500s pewre, Middle English–1500s (1800s– in sense C. 6) puer, Middle English– pure, 1500s–1600s pewr, 1600s pvre, 1800s pewer (in sense C. 6); English regional (Cornwall) 1800s– pewer, 1800s– puer, 1800s– pur; U.S. regional (chiefly south Midland and southern) 1800s– puore, 1900s– pyo' (chiefly in African-American usage), 1900s– pyore; Scottish pre-1700 peure, pre-1700 poore, pre-1700 poure, pre-1700 power, pre-1700 puir, pre-1700 puire, pre-1700 pur, pre-1700 purre, pre-1700 puyr, pre-1700 puyre, pre-1700 pwre, pre-1700 1700s– pure. N.E.D. (1909) also records a form late Middle English pewr. Origin: Of multiple origins. Partly a borrowing from French. Partly a borrowing from Latin. Etymons: French pur; Latin pūrus. Etymology: < Anglo-Norman peur, pure, Anglo-Norman and Old French, Middle French pur (French pur; feminine pure) (adjective) unmixed (c1000 as pura, feminine, used figuratively with reference to faith), unstained, chaste (c1135), sole, mere, simple (c1170), without aesthetic fault (c1176), real, genuine (second quarter of the 13th cent.), independent, unconditional (late 13th cent. in Anglo-Norman), complete, entire (c1292 or earlier in Anglo-Norman), (adverb) completely (c1292 or earlier in Anglo-Norman), (noun) person or thing that is not mixed (c1170), person or thing that has no faults (c1174) and its etymon classical Latin pūrus clean, unmixed, unadulterated, (of celestial objects) clear, (of the voice) clear, taken by itself, complete, genuine, morally undefiled, chaste, ritually clean, unconditional, absolute < the same Indo-European base as Sanskrit pū- to purify, and perhaps also Old High German fouwen to sift (also fewen; Middle High German vewen). Compare Old Occitan pur (second half of the 11th cent.; Occitan pur), Catalan pur (late 13th cent.), Spanish puro (early 13th cent.), Portuguese puro (13th cent.), Italian puro (12th cent.); also ( < Latin, in some cases partly via French) Dutch puur, pure (Dutch puur), Middle Low German pūr, Middle High German pūr (German pur), Old Swedish pur (Swedish pur), Early Irish púr (Irish †púr), Welsh pur (13th cent.).Apparently attested earlier as a surname: Aluredus Pur (1178), although it is unclear whether this is to be interpreted as reflecting currency of the Anglo-Norman or the Middle English word. It is possible that the Middle English forms por , pore could in some instances instead show poor adj. With pure (and perpetual) alms at sense A. 2b compare post-classical Latin eleemosyna pura , also eleemosyna pura et perpetua (from 12th cent. in British sources; also in continental sources), Anglo-Norman pure et perpetuele almoigne (late 13th cent.). In pure widowhood at sense A. 2c after post-classical Latin pura viduitas pure widowhood (from c1315 British source), Anglo-Norman pure vedveté (late 13th cent.). In sense A. 2f after ancient Greek καθαρός pure (see catharsis n.), in Hellenistic Greek also ‘preceded by a vowel’. With pure and simple at sense A. 3c compare French pur et simple (see pur et simple adj.). With sense A. 8c compare earlier purely adj. With sense C. 3 compare earlier pured n., purray n. With sense C. 6 compare pure v. 3. A. adj. I. In physical senses. 1. a. Not mixed or adulterated; clean, clear, refined; spec. (a) not mixed with any other substance or material; free from admixture or adulteration; unmixed, unalloyed (often qualifying names of colours; see also sense B. 2); (b) free from contamination or physical impurity; not mixed with anything that corrupts or impairs; untainted, clean; (c) visibly or optically clear; spotless, stainless (in quots. 1481, 1652: transparent).The quotations here represent a range of uses within these senses, often with no clear lines of division, and some unite more than one shade of meaning. ΘΚΠ the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > freedom from impurities > [adjective] fairOE unfiledc1200 purec1300 undefouled13.. unfouledc1380 fresha1393 finec1440 filthless1532 taintless1590 virgin1596 untainted1609 indevirginate?1624 unpolluted1771 germless1869 Diana1870 sterile1877 aseptic1883 pristine1910 the world > matter > colour > quality of colour > [adjective] > pure or clear purec1300 freshc1405 fair1663 serene1751 the world > matter > liquid > water > [adjective] > properties or characteristics of water > pure or clear livingeOE fairOE purec1300 cleara1400 skirea1400 crystalc1425 lucent1820 the world > matter > light > transparency or translucence > [adjective] shireOE brightOE through-shineOE cleanc1040 cleara1400 transparent1413 crystalc1425 crystallinec1425 crystal-clear?a1439 pure1481 perspicuatea1500 beryl1508 through-shining1526 diaphane1561 thorough-seeable1562 pellucid1563 sheer1565 translucent1568 liquid1590 tralucent?1592 perspicuous1599 thorough light1601 diaphanic1614 diaphanous1614 perspicable1615 translucid1615 diaphanal1616 lucid1620 diaphaned1626 transpicuous1638 perlucid1647 dioptrical1760 dioptric1801 unconcealing1804 see-through1851 pellucent1886 pool-clear1924 c1300 St. John Evangelist (Laud) 272 in C. Horstmann Early S.-Eng. Legendary (1887) 410 (MED) So clene gold ne so puyr huy ne seiȝen neuere with eiȝen. a1325 St. Brendan (Corpus Cambr.) 314 in C. D'Evelyn & A. J. Mill S. Eng. Legendary (1956) 191 Calis and crues [read cruets], pur cler cristal. c1350 (a1333) William of Shoreham Poems (1902) 29 (MED) Of pure wete hyt [sc. the sacrament] mot be, And eke of pure wyne. a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add.) f. 153 To make put watir clene and pure. c1400 (?c1380) Pearl 227 So watz hit clene and cler and pure, Þat precios perle þer hit watz pyȝt. 1481 W. Caxton tr. Myrrour of Worlde iii. vi. 140 The mone is not so pure that the sonne may shyne..thurgh her as thurgh an other sterre. a1525 (c1448) R. Holland Bk. Howlat l. 369 in W. A. Craigie Asloan MS (1925) II. 106 Of pure gold was ye ground. 1590 E. Spenser Faerie Queene ii. vii. sig. S3 At the well head the purest streames arise. 1638 F. Junius Painting of Ancients 42 To have his minde..like unto a pure, bright looking-glasse. 1652 J. Gaule Πυς-μαντια 7 One reads them with the pure glass of Gods word? the other by his own false and fallacious perspicils. 1751 T. Gray Elegy xiv. 8 Full many a gem of purest ray serene, The dark unfathom'd caves of ocean bear. 1785 W. Cowper Task ii. 508 To filter off a crystal draught Pure from the lees. 1797 Encycl. Brit. XVI. 33/1 There can be but one proper species of red;..all other shades being adulterations of that pure colour, with yellow, brown, &c. 1800 tr. E. J. B. Bouillon-Lagrange Man. Course Chem. II. 308 If alcohol be re-distilled, and reduced to two-thirds, you will obtain it very pure. This is what is called Rectified Alcohol. 1804 J. Grahame Sabbath 4 The morning air pure from the city's smoke. 1839 A. Ure Dict. Arts 414 A mixture of prussian blue and cochineal pink..in preference to a pure blue. 1853 W. Gregory Inorg. Chem. (ed. 3) 74 In consequence of the great solvent power of water, it is never found pure in nature. 1860 J. Tyndall Glaciers of Alps i. xxv. 187 The snow was of the purest white. 1922 T. M. Lowry Inorg. Chem. xliii. 857 (note) The number of carats shows the proportion of pure gold in 24 parts, 24 carat gold being the pure metal. 1987 R. Carver Elephant (1988) 114 The air was pure and invigorating. 1995 L. Garrett Coming Plague (new ed.) x. 276 Once it reached Newark, a two-pound bag of pure heroin might be ‘cut’..with some other chemical. 2003 S. Brown Free Gift Inside! 29 Real food, pure water, fresh air, natural cosmetics, organic farming..are the order of the day. †b. Intact, unbroken, perfect, entire. Obsolete. rare. ΘΚΠ the world > relative properties > wholeness > [adjective] > whole or intact yholec1000 wholeOE all wholec1175 hale1357 haila1400 intactc1450 undeflowereda1533 dintless1558 pure1607 undinteda1616 entirea1631 neat1715 1607 E. Topsell Hist. Foure-footed Beastes 716 Twenty of these hornes pure, and so many broken. c. Of sound: not discordant or harsh, perfectly in tune, clear and even in tone; (Music and Acoustics) produced by a vibration of a single frequency, with no overtones or harmonics; chiefly in pure tone (cf. simple tone n. at simple adj., n., adv., and int. Compounds 3). ΘΚΠ society > leisure > the arts > music > musical sound > [adjective] > timbre or quality > pure or clear brightOE silver1526 silvered1642 purea1791 silvery1824 pellucid1952 the world > matter > physics > science of sound > vibration > [noun] > simple tone simple tone1864 partial1873 pure tone1902 tone1919 sine tone1962 the world > matter > physics > science of sound > vibration > [adjective] > of single frequency pure tone1961 a1791 F. Hopkinson Misc. Ess. & Occas. Writings (1792) I. 289 A substance..sufficiently elastic for the purpose..shall draw a full and pure tone from the string [of a harpsichord]. 1845 E. Holmes Life Mozart 104 She has a beautiful voice—neither strong nor weak, but very pure and good in the intonation. 1870 Nature 3 Mar. 458/2 This interval should, therefore, give no beats, and an impure octave be as harmonious as a pure one. 1889 J. Lecky in G. Grove Dict. Music IV. 70/2 If..all the consonant intervals are made perfectly smooth and pure, so as to give no beats, the tuning is then called Just Intonation. 1902 Encycl. Brit. XXXI. 751/2 Considerable difference of opinion exists as to whether beats can blend so as to give a sensation of tone; but König, by using very pure tones of high pitch, appears to have settled the question. 1961 Lancet 22 July 197/2 Pure-tone audiometry is only one item in a whole range of tests that are needed to build up a complete picture of the condition of a patient who has a hearing-loss. 1976 L. H. Schaudinischky Sound, Man & Building i. 30 The beat grows progressively lower and vanishes altogether when f₁ = f₂. This gives rise to a method of extremely accurately determining the unknown frequency of a pure tone. 2005 Independent (Nexis) 12 Aug. (Features) 5 What you often get with these northern orchestras is a weighty, pure bass sound. d. Of a group of plants, esp. trees: consisting of only one species. ΘΚΠ the world > plants > by growth or development > defined by habit > tree or woody plant > wood or assemblage of trees or shrubs > [adjective] > containing trees of same or different age or species even-aged1889 pure1889 all-aged1905 uneven-aged1905 1889 W. Schlich Man. Forestry I. ii. iii. 177 Such woods may be composed of one species only, or they may contain a mixture of two or more species; in the former case they are called ‘pure woods’, and in the latter ‘mixed woods’. 1902 J. C. Gifford Pract. Forestry viii. 198 In Europe.., where large quantities of spruce are raised for this purpose, it grows in dense, pure stands. 1948 Misc. Publ. Univ. Michigan Mus. Zool. 68 16 The creosote bush, usually in pure stands, covers great expanses of the broad desert basins. 1991 Forestry 64 360 The sampling strategy was aimed at pure crops of Sitka spruce in eastern and southern Scotland. II. In non-physical or extended senses. 2. a. Free from anything not properly belonging to it; without any added, extraneous, or unnecessary elements; simple, homogeneous, unmixed, unadulterated (sometimes merging with sense A. 6). pure naturals: see natural n.¹ 3a. ΚΠ c1300 St. Thomas Becket (Laud) 451 in C. Horstmann Early S.-Eng. Legendary (1887) 119 (MED) Euere þe herre heore ordre is, me þinchez bi puyr [a1325 Corpus Cambr. pur] lawe þe strengore scholde heore dom beo. c1325 (c1300) Chron. Robert of Gloucester (Calig.) 9724 (MED) Me ssolde him uerst desordeini & suþþe, þoru pur lawe & þoru Iugement of þe lond, honge him. c1450 (c1378) W. Langland Piers Plowman (Rawl.) (1869) B. xiii. 166 (MED) Þere nys neyther..Pope ne patriarch þat puyre reson ne schal make Þe meyster of alle þo men. 1508 Golagros & Gawane (Chepman & Myllar) sig. bv^v For pure sorow of that sight thai sighit vnsound. 1614 S. Purchas Pilgrimage (ed. 2) i. ix. 47 In the time of Elisa or Dido, the Phænicean or Punike, which she carried into Africa, was pure Hebrew, as were also their letters. 1642 R. Burney Answer Observ. v. 23 'Tis Adams pure naturalls, impure nature that makes a Subject covet to be a King. 1724 A. Collins Disc. Grounds Christian Relig. 81 The Sadducees profess'd to follow the pure text of Scripture, or to interpret it according to the literal sense. 1864 F. C. Bowen Logic (1870) vi. 148 I know at once, or by Immediate Inference,—that is, by an act of Pure Thought. 1882 G. M. Minchin Uniplanar Kinematics 130 The strain at a point is said to be pure strain if the principal axes (axes of the strain ellipse) are not rotated by the strain. 1912 D. C. Macintosh Probl. Knowl. i. 63 The innocent enough looking ‘dualistic’ doctrine that all true knowledge is the elaboration of pure experience by thought. 1942 G. M. Trevelyan Eng. Social Hist. xi. 363 The foundation of hospitals and the improvement of medical service and infant welfare were pure gain. 2004 Times Lit. Suppl. 1 Oct. 15/4 Osama bin Laden rejects..the entire history of interpretation of the Qur'an..in order to return to the unadulterated, original wording, pure, naked scripture. b. Law. Without any condition attached; absolute, unconditional. Frequently in pure (and perpetual) alms (cf. frankalmoign n., perpetual alms n. at perpetual adj., adv., and n. Compounds 1). Now historical. ΘΚΠ society > authority > lack of subjection > freedom or liberty > freedom of action or from restraint > [adjective] > free from conditions purea1393 absolutec1475 unreserved1538 unconditioneda1631 unconditionable1642 unconditionate1642 inconditionate1654 respectlessa1660 unconditional1667 unconditionated1836 a1393 J. Gower Confessio Amantis (Fairf.) Prol. 742 (MED) The richesse Which to Silvestre in pure almesse The ferste Constantinus lefte, Fro holy cherche thei berefte. 1438 in J. Robertson Illustr. Topogr. & Antiq. Aberdeen & Banff (1857) III. 265 For quhy that I..has..confermyt a charter of pur sellyng of my landys. a1475 in A. Clark Eng. Reg. Godstow Nunnery (1905) i. 34 (MED) Huge, Abbot of Abendon..grauntyd to the Mynchons of Godstow..in-to pur & perpetual almys, fowre burdyns of thornys. 1584 Burgh Court Perth 4 May Sufficient charter of puir venditioun contenyng clausis of warrandice. c1626 H. Bisset Rolment Courtis (1922) II. 31 In puir and perpetuall almouse. 1713 Act 13 Anne c. 6 §8 To have and to hold the said Canonship or Prebend to the said Colwell Brickenden..and his Successors..in pure and perpetual Alms. 1818 H. T. Colebrooke Treat. Obligations & Contracts 151 [If] one be conditional or deferred for a term, while the other is a pure and simple engagement. 1880 J. Muirhead tr. Gaius Institutes ii. 159 Sabinus and Cassius think that a conditional legacy to him is valid, but not a pure one. 1997 J. Hudson Land, Law & Lordship in Anglo-Norman Eng. 191 Ralph Carbunel gave the canons of Easby two carucates to hold of him and his heirs in pure and perpetual alms. c. Law. Chiefly in pure widowhood. Designating the status of a widow who has not remarried and is regarded as an independent legal personality, able to hold and dispose of property, land, etc., in her own right. Now historical. ΘΚΠ society > society and the community > kinship or relationship > marriage or wedlock > widow or widower > [noun] > widow > types of widow pure widowhood1427 vowess1506 king's widow1540 widow1561 Merry Widowc1567 widow mother1582 virgin widowa1644 war widow1866 1427 in W. Fraser Melvilles & Leslies (1890) III. 21 Condicyonys..quhilkis scho is bundyne..to fulfile in hir pur wyduyte. 1448 in B. Sundby Stud. Middle Eng. Dial. Material Worcs. Rec. (1963) 256 (MED) Ef..the seid Jahne ouer luve the seid Thomas Corbet, then the seid Jahne in hure pure weduhod shal relese..alle hure right and titel. a1475 in A. Clark Eng. Reg. Godstow Nunnery (1905) i. 147 (MED) Agnes þe wyfe sumtyme of Iohn perschore..beyng in pure wydewhode..grauntyd..to þe religiouse women..alle here ryȝht..in oon Mese. 1624 in J. Robertson Illustr. Topogr. & Antiq. Aberdeen & Banff (1862) IV. 256 The pretendit chartour... Dame Issobell is alledgit in hir puire vidowitie to have gevin. 1666 W. Dugdale Origines Juridiciales xiii. 28 I have seen an original deed..by Alice the daughter of William de Wrottesle..in her pure Widowhood, of all that land which her father gave in frank marriage with her. 1731 Magna Britannia VI. 413/1 She survived Baldwin, and in her pure Widowhood gave to the Canons of Bolton..her Mills at this Place. 1991 Past & Present May 30 There are two particularly interesting features of this transaction. The first concerns the issue of ‘pure widowhood’. In theory a widow was entitled to freebench rights only during her ‘pure’ (that is, un-remarried) widowhood. d. In reference to breeding or lineage: of unmixed origin or descent; pure-bred.Originally of persons; now often of domesticated animals. ΘΚΠ the world > life > biology > biological processes > genetic activity > heredity or hereditary descent > [adjective] > descent from common ancestor pure1569 truly1650 thoroughbred1719 thorough-blood1774 monogeneous1857 genetic1860 monogenous1866 homogenetic1870 homogenetical1870 homogenous1870 monophyletic1874 clean-bred1882 homodemic1883 homophylic1883 homosystemic1883 line-bred1891 synepigonic1904 cladistic1960 1569 R. Grafton Chron. II. 286 To people the towne with pure Englishe men. a1675 J. Lightfoot Wks. (1684) II. 799 In Persia there are very many not of pure blood, and a few that are pure. 1729 E. Fenton Observ. Waller's Poems in E. Waller Wks. p. xix/2 Her blood is kept pure, by often alliance with great and Princely families. 1836 in H. Strang Pioneers in Canada (1935) 80 Thomas Hassel, a pure Indian, who had been educated at Red River, and engaged by me as an interpreter. 1854 J. H. Newman Lect. Hist. Turks i. ii. 28 I consider Attila to have been a pure Hun. 1866 G. MacDonald Ann. Quiet Neighbourhood xxvii That horse..is very nearly a pure Arab. 1983 K. Hulme Bone People 64 My father's father was English so I'm not yer 100% pure. But I'm Maori. And that's the way I feel too. 2002 J. Cunliffe Encycl. Dog Breeds (new ed.) 190/2 [The modern English setter was] greatly influenced by Edward Laverack who acquired two pure English setters in 1825 and began his breeding programme. e. Of a subject of study or practice: restricted to the essential matter; not concerned with related subjects or topics; spec. dealing with the theory or abstract understanding of a subject as distinct from its practical application (cf. pure mathematics n.); frequently opposed to applied adj. 3a, mixed adj.² 5. Also: designating a student or practitioner of the theory or essentials of a subject or sphere of activity; (of music, painting, poetry, etc.) designating a work or form considered absolute, essential, or abstract, rather than representational, didactic, or commercial; (hence) of or relating to an artist whose work is of this type. ΘΚΠ society > leisure > the arts > music > [adjective] musica1382 musical1447 rural1488 harmonic1570 harmonical1603 pure1605 tuneful1697 melophonic1843 the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > branch of knowledge > systematic knowledge, science > [adjective] > kinds of philosophical?a1513 mixed1605 pure1605 occulta1652 applied1832 statistical1885 marine scientific1937 soft1966 the mind > mental capacity > belief > speculation > confirmation of hypothesis, theory > [adjective] > characterized by theory pure1605 theorized1826 theory-laden1886 the world > health and disease > healing > healer > specialist > [adjective] pure1858 society > leisure > the arts > the arts in general > [adjective] pure1941 1605 F. Bacon Of Aduancem. Learning ii. sig. Hh3 The mathematicks are either pure, or mixt... Mixt hath for subiect some Axiomes or parts of Naturall Philosop[h] ie. View more context for this quotation 1648 Bp. J. Wilkins Math. Magick i. ii. 12 Mathematicks..is usually divided into pure and mixed. 1750 S. Johnson Rambler No. 14. ⁋5 The difference between pure science, which has to do only with ideas, and the application of its laws to the use of life. 1858 R. G. Mayne Expos. Lexicon Med. Sci. (1860) 1045/2 In England..the profession is ostensibly divided into three distinct branches, viz. pure physicians, or those who profess to act only in medical cases; pure surgeons, or those who practise surgery alone; and surgeon-apothecaries, or general practitioners. 1883 Encycl. Brit. XV. 752/2 Pure Mechanism, or Applied Kinematics: being the theory of machines considered simply as modifying motion. 1903 Carnegie Inst. Yearbk. 1902 27 The applications of pure physics and pure chemistry from the minutest parts of the earth to the mass of the earth as a whole. 1924 Econ. Jrnl. 34 346 Meanwhile I got a good deal interested in the semi-mathematical side of pure Economics. 1941 ‘G. Orwell’ in Listener 29 May 768/1 James Joyce, was..about as near to being a ‘pure’ artist as a writer can be. 1955 Times 9 May 5/1 The exhibition would attract considerable attention and must help to break down the barrier which existed between commercial and pure art. 1978 P. Griffiths Conc. Hist. Mod. Music iv. 47 His [sc. Debussy's] creative energies were directed..into works of pure music. 2002 Guardian (Nexis) 29 July (Media section) 2 The pure economist would say free trade is good whether or not you have reciprocity. †f. Linguistics. (a) In ancient Greek: (of a stem) ending in a vowel; (of an ending) following a vowel. (b) In Arabic, etc.: (of a syllable) ending in a vowel, open. Obsolete. ΘΚΠ the mind > language > linguistics > study of speech sound > speech sound > vowel > [adjective] > ending in a vowel pure1650 the mind > language > linguistics > study of speech sound > speech sound > [adjective] > syllable > type of pure1776 open1845 checked1943 1650 E. Reeve Introd. Greeke Tongue 24 Nounes ending in δα, θα, ρα, or pure α, do make the Genitive in ας. 1650 E. Reeve Introd. Greeke Tongue 24 Adjectives in ις, having ος not pure [e.g. εύπατρις, ευπάτριδος]. 1776 J. Richardson Gram. Arabick Lang. v. 14 [Syllables] are divided into pure and mixed; the pure consisting only of one consonant and one vowel,..the mixed of two consonants joined by a vowel. 1818 E. V. Blomfield tr. A. H. Matthiæ Copious Greek Gram. I. 218 Verbs pure, whose final syllable -ω is preceded by a diphthong. 1870 E. Abbott tr. Curtius Elucid. Student's Gr. Gram. i. vi. 57 In the formation of the acc. sing. of Masc. and Fem., the true vowel-nature of the stem declares itself, πόλι-ν, πολύ-ν; and the voc. sing...contains the pure vowel stem. g. Logic. Designating or relating to a predicate which is affirmed or denied of the subject without a qualification (opposed to modal adj.¹ 1); (of a syllogism) containing such a proposition as its premise. Now historical. ΘΚΠ the mind > mental capacity > philosophy > logic > logical proposition > [adjective] > of types of propositions causalc1530 subalternate1599 equipollent1642 reduplicative1671 subalternating1671 pure1697 poristic1704 desitive1725 inceptive1725 contrary1739 exponible1788 analytic1797 analytical1797 poristical1828 oristica1832 oristicosemeiotica1832 balanced1849 plurative1849 molecular1892 dyadic1897 monadic1897 dispositional1909 non-atomic1934 the mind > mental capacity > philosophy > logic > logical syllogism > [adjective] > of types of syllogism modal1569 hypothetical1588 prosyllogistical1588 contract1605 prosyllogistic1652 monstrative1653 enthymematic1654 epicheirematic1656 hypothetica1680 pure1697 indirect1728 dialectal1767 tollent1770 conjunctivea1856 hypothetico-disjunctivea1856 schematica1856 unfigureda1856 subsumptive1884 episyllogistic1886 1654 Z. Coke Logick 114 Propositions of the manner necessary are converted so as the pure simply, when they are universal negatives.] 1697 tr. F. Burgersdijck Monitio Logica i. xxviii. 112 A Pure Enunciation is [L. Enunciatio pura est] that in which it is not express'd how the Parts cohere... Modal, in which it is. 1697 tr. F. Burgersdijck Monitio Logica ii. xiv. 60 A Pure [Syllogism] is that which consists of Propositions pure... Modal either of one or both Modal. 1725 I. Watts Logick ii. ii. §4 When a proposition merely expresses that the predicate is connected with the subject, it is called a pure proposition; as, every true christian is an honest man: But when it includes also the way and manner wherein the predicate is connected with the subject, it is called a modal proposition; as, when I say, it is necessary that a true christian should be an honest man. 1827 R. Whately Elements Logic (ed. 2) iii. ii. 106 A Modal Proposition may be stated as a pure one, by attaching the Mode to one of the Terms. 1870 W. S. Jevons Elem. Lessons Logic vii. 69 It has long been usual to distinguish propositions as they are pure or modal. 1993 R. B. Marcus Modalities 56 The early taxonomy of preformal logic distinguished between pure and modal propositions. h. Originally Economics. Of a surplus or deficit, esp. of money: remaining after all deductions; reckoned independently of other gains, losses, or holdings. Frequently in pure profit, pure earnings. ΚΠ 1749 T. W. Brit. Sleepers II. 57 The Things being exported being more than we can consume, in respect to our Necessities, they are superfluous, and their whole Produce is a pure Profit. 1799 W. Tooke View Russ. Empire II. 537 If we deduct from this the waste in the coinage, the wages of workmen, and the expence of transport, the remainder is pure profit. 1887 Polit Sci. Q. 2 606 In selling the product for more than this sum total lies the employer's chance of ultimate gain. Pure profit is the return of simple ownership. 1903 C. F. Bastable Public Finance IV. iv. 472 The aim of taxing permanent incomes at a higher rate is accomplished by a tax that does not touch pure earnings. 1964 Jrnl. Finance 19 27 We can now define pure earnings as earnings minus implicit interest, and pure earnings then account for all capital costs. 1992 Observer 2 Feb. 28/4 Soundings from managing agents..indicate that ‘pure’ losses in 1990 will amount to just £390 million. i. Medicine and Psychology. Of a disease or condition: uncomplicated by any other disease or pathological process. Also (of a patient): suffering from such a disease or condition. ΚΠ 1771 J. Hill Managem. Gout (ed. 8) ii. 11 The celebrated Englishman who establishes this distinction..supposes the hereditary taint may often be a mixture of scurvy, pox, and stone; as well as a pure gout. 1812 Edinb. Med. & Surg. Rev. 8 365 The frequent paroxysms of difficulty of breathing, not usual in pure phthisis. 1859 J. Bigelow Nature in Dis. (ed. 2) i. 22 Also if inflammatory, or other morbid affections, supervene upon the pure disease, they may become subjects for medical treatment. 1900 Lancet 8 Dec. 1633/2 It is very remarkable..how very rarely in the course of a case of pure tuberculosis this sign appears. 1945 Amer. Jrnl. Psychol. 58 283 Twenty were chosen that represented the ‘pure’ form of maternal overprotection, of which Dr. Levy distinguishes five varieties in all; pure, compensatory for rejection-impulses, mixed pure-and-compensatory, mild, and non-material. 1967 Canad. Med. Assoc. Jrnl. 7 Oct. (Abstracts) 8/2 It is most unlikely that normal feminization at puberty will occur, and testicular removal at any age is generally indicated as in the case of pure gonadal dysgenesis already mentioned. 1976 Amer. Jrnl. Psychiatry 133 2/1 Atypical manic patients, such as schizo-affective patients, do not respond so well to lithium therapy as do ‘pure’ depressive patients. 2002 BusinessWeek 5 Aug. 117/1 An anemia drug..attracted scrutiny after being linked to 141 cases of pure red-cell aplasia, a life-threatening anemia. j. Phonetics. Of a vowel: not joined with another to form a diphthong. ΚΠ 1922 Mod. Philol. 20 273 This slow changing movement renders the production of a pure vowel impossible. 1932 D. Jones Outl. Eng. Phonetics (ed. 3) xiv. 63 The term ‘pure’ vowel is used in this book to designate a vowel (during which the organs of speech remain approximately stationary) in contradistinction to a diphthong (during which the organs of speech perform a clearly perceptible movement). 1960 Amer. Jrnl. Philol. 81 210 High frequency of ‘pure vowels’ in initial position..is by no means a general distributional property of all languages. 1996 R. L. Trask Dict. Phonetics & Phonol. 202 A form of monophthongization in which a diphthong is reduced to a pure vowel lying phonetically about halfway between the start point and end point of the original diphthong. 3. Chiefly attributive. †a. That is the thing itself, not something else; true, real, genuine; very. Obsolete. ΘΚΠ the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > foundation in fact, validity > [adjective] > in its natural state, unsophisticated purec1300 right1466 sincere1557 in grain?1577 genuine1607 unsophisticate1607 honesta1616 undistracted1656 unsophisticated1664 inartful1714 unabsurd1744 in the raw1785 c1300 St. Michael (Laud) 555 in C. Horstmann Early S.-Eng. Legendary (1887) 315 Man schal in puyr somer selde þondre i-huyre, For þer is þanne selde wete to maken quenchingue of fuyre.; Ne in puyr winter no-þe-mo, for þanne nis non hete. c1325 (c1300) Chron. Robert of Gloucester (Calig.) 2308 He..sede he was purost [v.r. purest; a1400 Trin. Cambr. puirest] eyr to be icrouned to kinge. c1385 G. Chaucer Knight's Tale 1279 The pure fettres of his shynes grete Were of his bittre salte teres wete. c1400 (?c1380) Cleanness (1920) 704 (MED) Wel nyȝe pure paradys moȝt preve no better. c1425 (c1400) Laud Troy-bk. 6656 (MED) He..persed his Armure..That it come to his fflesche pure. a1535 T. More Dialoge of Comfort (1553) i. xviii. sig. D.viii Tyll the pure panges of death pulled theyr harte fro theyr play. b. Used emphatically or as an intensifier: nothing but (the thing specified); sheer, utter, complete, total, unmitigated. ΘΚΠ the mind > goodness and badness > quality of being good > perfection > [adjective] > pure or flawless lutter971 unwemmedc1000 fair?c1225 upright?c1225 purec1300 without lackc1300 completec1380 defaultlessa1425 flush?1550 undefective1599 impeccable1620 indefectivea1641 defectless1651 virginala1659 flawless1659 unflawed1665 indefectuous1685 unblighted1785 immaculate1791 indefectible1833 shadeless1894 flukeless1895 intacta1941 pedicured1988 the world > relative properties > quantity > greatness of quantity, amount, or degree > high or intense degree > [adjective] > utter or absolute shirea1225 purec1300 properc1380 plainc1395 cleana1400 fine?a1400 entirec1400 veryc1400 starka1425 utterc1430 utterlyc1440 merec1443 absolute1531 outright1532 cleara1535 bloodyc1540 unproachable1544 flat1553 downright1577 sheer1583 right-down?1586 single1590 peremptory1601 perfecta1616 downa1625 implicit1625 every way1628 blank1637 out-and-outa1642 errant1644 inaccessional1651 thorough-paced1651 even down1654 dead1660 double-dyed1667 through stitch1681 through-stitched1682 total1702 thoroughgoing1719 thorough-sped1730 regular1740 plumb1748 hollow1751 unextenuated1765 unmitigated1783 stick, stock, stone dead1796 positive1802 rank1809 heart-whole1823 skire1825 solid1830 fair1835 teetotal1840 bodacious1845 raw1856 literal1857 resounding1873 roaring1884 all out1893 fucking1893 pink1896 twenty-four carat1900 grand slam1915 stone1928 diabolical1933 fricking1937 righteous1940 fecking1952 raving1954 c1300 St. Michael (Laud) 693 in C. Horstmann Early S.-Eng. Legendary (1887) 319 (MED) Euerech of þeos foure elemenz en-tempriez oþur..So þat vnneþe In any Man any riȝ[t] puyr maister is. c1330 (?a1300) Arthour & Merlin (Auch.) (1973) 3325 (MED) Wiþ pure strengþe of swerdes dint, King Lot he feld, verrament, & was about him to slen. c1400 (?c1390) Sir Gawain & Green Knight (1940) 1247 (MED) I were glad..At saȝe oþer at seruyce þat I sette myȝt To þe plesaunce of your prys; hit were a pure ioye. a1450 MS Bodl. 779 in Archiv f. das Studium der Neueren Sprachen (1889) 82 379 (MED) He forsok cristindome & becom al pure heþin. c1550 Clariodus (1830) v. 2303 Melancholike he brunt of pure invy. 1611 G. Chapman May-day v. 73 His Master hath such a pure beleefe in his wife, that hee's apt to beleeue any good of her. 1694 N. H. Ladies Dict. 69 They are denyed the reading of such wanton Books, only out of pure envy. 1707 E. Ward Wooden World Dissected 31 The Ale-Wives tickle him..with the Title of Captain, which makes him ofttimes stay to get Drunk in their Houses, out of pure Joy and Gratitude. 1794 W. Godwin Caleb Williams II. xi. 218 I believed that misery, more pure than that which I now endured, had never fallen to the lot of a human being. 1863 H. Morford Sprees & Splashes i. 12 All play~goers will remember..a piece of pure nonsense by Brougham, in which an old hunks is intruded upon by his daughter's lover in disguise. 1870 J. Ruskin Let. in Athenæum 30 Sept. (1905) 428/3 Dickens was a pure modernist—a leader of the steam-whistle party par excellence. 1915 J. Turner Let. July in C. Warren Somewhere in France (2019) 16 The Plainsong was pure joy to me—by far the best music yet. 1941 K. A. Porter Let. 7 Jan. (1990) iv. 186 Marriage for me has meant pure disaster, and a strange cruel starvation of the heart. 1967 Times 29 May 6/4 Glissandos on the microtonal harp were pure magic. 1991 F. F. Centore Being & Becoming i. 30 In this light he attacks Hegel's Pure Spirit as pure stupidity. c. Taken by itself, with nothing added; that is the thing specified, and nothing else; no more than; mere, simple.Often in pure and simple (usually following the noun). ΘΚΠ the world > relative properties > wholeness > state or quality of being simple, unmixed, or uncompounded > [adjective] > without addition or qualification > bare or mere mereeOE nakedOE barec1200 purec1325 singlec1421 very1548 nude1551 absolute?1570 blank1596 female1602 clear1606 the world > relative properties > wholeness > state or quality of being simple, unmixed, or uncompounded > [adjective] shirec888 unmengedeOE mereeOE perfecta1393 unmeddleda1425 impermixta1475 unmingled1545 unpermixedc1545 sincere1546 unintermixed1595 immixt1622 untinct1646 single-fold1651 meracious1657 beaten1670 simple1818 pure1831 straight1856 c1325 (c1300) Chron. Robert of Gloucester (Calig.) 794 (MED) He isei þat he moste attenende Vor pur meseise vorfare. ?a1425 Mandeville's Trav. (Egerton) (1889) 144 (MED) Many of þaim diez for pure elde withouten sekeness. c1480 (a1400) St. Paul 1026 in W. M. Metcalfe Legends Saints Sc. Dial. (1896) I. 58 For pure pytte & Ioy þai gret. a1513 R. Fabyan New Cronycles Eng. & Fraunce (1516) I. cvii. f. xlviii^v The .ii. sonnes of Mordred were constrayned of pure force to seche stronge holdes for theyr Refuge. a1616 W. Shakespeare Henry VI, Pt. 2 (1623) ii. i. 159 Alas Sir, we did it for pure need. View more context for this quotation 1639 T. Fuller Hist. Holy Warre iv. xix. 202 Knowing no more how to sway a sceptre then a pure clown to manage a sword. 1724 A. Collins Disc. Grounds Christian Relig. 79 This distinction is the pure invention of those who make the objection. 1831 Star 31 Jan. Partisans who wish for a re-union pure and simple. 1860 ‘G. Eliot’ Let. 7 June (1954) III. 302 But the most ignorant journalist in England would hardly think of calling me a rival of Miss Mulock—a writer who is read only by novel readers, pure and simple, never by people of high culture. 1861 M. Pattison in Westm. Rev. Apr. 408 His delay in setting out was due to pure procrastination and dilatoriness. 1871 B. Jowett tr. Plato Dialogues I. 27 That of which we are speaking is knowledge pure and simple. 1904 J. Conrad Nostromo i. viii. 110 ‘Sir,’ he used to say afterwards, ‘that was no mistake. It was a fatality. A misfortune, pure and simple, sir.’ 1993 Nature 21 Oct. 703/3 The discovery of bacteriophage was pure luck. 2005 When Sat. Comes Dec. 32/2 No hype or promises, just pure facts. III. Free from corruption or defilement. 4. a. Free from moral corruption; of unblemished character or nature; morally untainted; guiltless, innocent, guileless. Formerly also with of, from. ΘΚΠ society > morality > virtue > purity > [adjective] cleanlyc888 unwemmedc950 clean971 lightOE whiteOE unfiledc1200 shire?c1225 sheenc1275 wemlessc1275 undefouled13.. undefoileda1325 purec1330 unbleckedc1380 unfouledc1380 clear1382 impollutec1384 unblemishedc1400 undefiledc1400 unspottedc1400 virginc1400 spotless?a1430 immaculate1441 uncorruptc1450 unpollushed1490 intemeratea1492 incorrupted1529 unmaculate1535 impolluted1548 crystallinec1550 incorrupt1550 uncorrupted1565 undistained1565 unstained1573 entire1587 taintless1590 untainted1590 stainless1599 unsmirched1604 intemerated1608 indepravate1609 chastea1616 uncurseda1628 undishonested1631 untaint1638 Adamical1649 sincere1649 undebaucheda1656 unaccurseda1674 amiantal1674 unsoiled1699 unpolluted1732 c1330 (?a1300) Arthour & Merlin (Auch.) (1973) 7514 (MED) Þo þat ware ded of our, To heuen brouȝt soule pure, And þe slawen Sarrazine Went into helle pine. c1400 (c1378) W. Langland Piers Plowman (Laud 581) (1869) B. x. 463 (MED) Souteres..passen..In-to þe blisse of paradys for her pure byleue. 1481 W. Caxton tr. Myrrour of Worlde i. xiv. 48 To saue his sowle whiche God hath lent to hym pure and clene to thende that he shold rendre it such agayn. a1500 (c1340) R. Rolle Psalter (Univ. Oxf. 64) (1884) xxiii. 4 He..that is pure in werkis and clen in thoghtis. 1526 Bible (Tyndale) Matt. v. f. v Blessed are the pure in herte. 1526 Bible (Tyndale) Acts xx. 26 I am pure from the bloud of all men. 1572 (a1500) Taill of Rauf Coilȝear (1882) 20 In point thay war to parische, thay proudest men and pure. 1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost viii. 506 Nature her self, though pure of sinful thought. View more context for this quotation 1682 J. Dryden Religio Laici Pref. sig. a2^v Their Descendants lost by little and little the Primitive and Purer Rites. 1719 I. Watts Hymns i. lxxxvi How should the sons of Adam's race Be pure before their God? 1742 W. Law Appeal to All that Doubt iii. 211 Those Mysteries that are only to be approached by those that are of a pure Heart, and who worship God in Spirit and in Truth. 1790 W. Paley Horæ Paulinæ Concl. His morality is everywhere calm, pure, and rational. 1849 T. B. Macaulay Hist. Eng. II. vii. 171 A friendship as warm and pure as any that ancient or modern history records. 1851 Ld. Tennyson To Queen vii Her court was pure; her life serene. 1855 T. B. Macaulay Hist. Eng. III. xiii. 265 He protested..that his hands were pure from the blood of the persecuted Covenanters. 1922 S. Lewis Babbitt xviii. 225 Outlining the plots of films about pure prostitutes and kind-hearted train-robbers. 1935 E. Bowen House in Paris ii. iv. 128 Karen and Max, two people, were her objects; even with them she did not pursue anything; she was pure in heart. 1990 R. Baker There's Country in my Cellar ii. vii. 55 He brings you the finest gift it is possible to present to a university—a pure mind, unused, untouched and unscarred by the education production line. †b. Applied mockingly to Puritans or Quakers. Obsolete. ΘΚΠ society > faith > sect > Christianity > Protestantism > Puritanism > [adjective] precise1560 Puritant1580 puritan1588 disciplinarian1591 disciplinary1591 pure1598 puritanical1598 puritanian1601 puritanic1606 kneeless1631 prick-eared1641 precisianicala1652 Catharistic1838 perfectionistic1884 hot-gospelling1891 Patarene1902 wowserish1933 1598 J. Marston Scourge of Villanie i. i. sig. B8 Lucilla, new set thy ruffe, tut thou art pure, Canst thou not lispe, (good brather) looke demure? 1602 B. Jonson Poetaster iv. i. sig. G To helpe 'hem to some pure Landresses, out of the City. View more context for this quotation 1729 H. Carey Poems (ed. 3) 94 The Pure Ones will, I know, with out-stretch'd Voice, Arraign my Judgment, and condemn my Choice. 1785 G. A. Bellamy Apol. Life II. 45 My mother, from being one of the pure ones, had changed her religion to that of a methodist. 5. Sexually undefiled; chaste; virgin. ΘΚΠ society > morality > virtue > purity > chastity > [adjective] > chaste sedefulc1000 chaste?c1225 purec1380 continenta1398 castc1430 chastful1497 unwanton1606 moral1803 c1380 G. Chaucer Second Nun's Tale 48 Thow virgyne wemmelees Bar of thy body, and dweltest mayde pure. ?1435 ( J. Lydgate Minor Poems (1934) ii. 636 Alle cladde in white, in tokne off clennesse, Lyche pure virgynes. ?a1475 Ludus Coventriae (1922) 358 (MED) Heyl, excellent prynces, mary most pure! a1513 J. Irland Meroure of Wyssdome (1926) I. 101 This haly lady, nete and pure without ony syn. 1588 A. King tr. St. Peter Canisius Catech. in T. G. Law Catholic Tractates (1901) 209 That blissit Marie remaines still puir virgine. a1616 W. Shakespeare Henry VI, Pt. 1 (1623) v. vi. 83 And yet forsooth she is a Virgin pure . View more context for this quotation 1671 J. Milton Paradise Regain'd i. 134 The Virgin pure In Galilee. View more context for this quotation 1710 R. Steele Tatler No. 210. ⁋6 I have lived a pure and undefiled Virgin these Twenty seven Years. 1771 tr. J. M. Horstius Paradise of Soul (ed. 2) App. 21 Hail you, the Sea's bright Star, Who God's pure Mother are. 1820 J. Keats Lamia i, in Lamia & Other Poems 14 A virgin purest lipp'd. 1878 W. E. Barnes Serpent & Dove iii. i. 19 She is as pure as an angel. 1904 Hymns Anc. & Mod. No. 55 A maiden pure and undefiled Is by the Spirit great with child. 2002 NFT Programme Booklet June 25/1 Brigitte Helm's enduring iconic status is based on her extraordinary debut as the pure, virginal Maria. 6. Free from admixture of anything debasing or deteriorating; unadulterated, uncorrupted, uncontaminated; conforming accurately to a standard of quality or style; faultless, correct. ΘΚΠ the world > relative properties > wholeness > state or quality of being simple, unmixed, or uncompounded > [adjective] > unadulterated or undiluted clean883 purea1393 uncorrumpeda1400 uncorrupted1541 sincere1557 stark naked?1594 undelayed1600 unsophisticated1630 entire1640 inadulterate1648 dephlegmated1651 neat1651 unalloyeda1672 intaminateda1695 undrossy1708 net1713 unadulterate1716 unsophistical1736 uncauponateda1752 undiluted1756 absolute1810 undefecated1812 unadulterated1823 undilute1876 undoctored1882 uncut1967 a1393 J. Gower Confessio Amantis (Fairf.) v. 2604 (MED) Sche is the pure hed and welle And Mirour and ensample of goode. c1400 (?a1300) Kyng Alisaunder (Laud) (1952) 84 Jn pure [a1425 Linc. Inn puyr] manere of bataile. c1450 (?a1400) Wars Alexander (Ashm.) 3990 (MED) Of þe pure thewis Þat lurkis with-in þis lede, full litill he kennes. 1526 Bible (Tyndale) James i. 27 Pure devocion and undefiled. 1540 J. Palsgrave in tr. G. Gnapheus Comedye of Acolastus Ep. to King sig. Aiij^v In suche places of your realme as the pureste englyshe is spoken. 1617 F. Moryson Itinerary i. 182 At Geneua many French Gentlemen and Students comming thither..did speake pure French. 1668 Bp. J. Wilkins Ess. Real Char. i. i. §4. 5 After the Captivity the pure Hebrew ceased to be Vulgar, remaining onely amongst learned men. 1749 B. Franklin Proposals Educ. Youth Pensilvania in Papers (1961) III. 402 That the Rector be..a correct pure Speaker and Writer of the English Tongue. 1788 E. Gibbon Decline & Fall (1838) V. l. 21 The purest disciples of Zoroaster escaped from the contagion of idolatry. 1849 T. B. Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. ii. 165 They had been oppressed, and oppression had kept them a pure body. 1882 C. Pebody Eng. Journalism xvi. 124 His taste, if severe, was pure. 1999 Independent (Nexis) 4 Apr. (Features section) 5 He tells me proudly that Tuscans speak the ‘purest’ Italian. 7. Free from ceremonial defilement; ritually clean; fit for sacred use. rare after 17th cent. ΘΚΠ society > faith > worship > cleanness (ceremonial) > [adjective] cleanlyc888 cleanc1000 pure1611 1611 Bible (King James) Ezra vi. 20 The Priestes and the Leuites were purified together, all of them were pure, and killed the Passeouer. View more context for this quotation 1613 S. Purchas Pilgrimage ii. xvi. 165 His [sc. a Jew's] wife hath prepared his dinner, pure meates purely dressed. 2002 J. Magness Archaeol. Qumran & Dead Sea Scrolls v. 87 Pure food and drink stored in sealed vessels in a house or building that became impure would have been rendered impure. IV. As a general term of appreciation. 8. †a. slang. Fine, good, excellent, nice. Obsolete. ΘΚΠ the mind > goodness and badness > quality of being good > excellence > [adjective] faireOE bremea1000 goodlyOE goodfulc1275 noblec1300 pricec1300 specialc1325 gentlec1330 fine?c1335 singulara1340 thrivena1350 thriven and throa1350 gaya1375 properc1380 before-passinga1382 daintiful1393 principala1398 gradelya1400 burlyc1400 daintyc1400 thrivingc1400 voundec1400 virtuousc1425 hathelc1440 curiousc1475 singlerc1500 beautiful1502 rare?a1534 gallant1539 eximious1547 jolly1548 egregious?c1550 jellyc1560 goodlike1562 brawc1565 of worth1576 brave?1577 surprising1580 finger-licking1584 admirablea1586 excellinga1586 ambrosial1598 sublimated1603 excellent1604 valiant1604 fabulous1609 pure1609 starryc1610 topgallant1613 lovely1614 soaringa1616 twanging1616 preclarent1623 primea1637 prestantious1638 splendid1644 sterling1647 licking1648 spankinga1666 rattling1690 tearing1693 famous1695 capital1713 yrare1737 pure and —1742 daisy1757 immense1762 elegant1764 super-extra1774 trimming1778 grand1781 gallows1789 budgeree1793 crack1793 dandy1794 first rate1799 smick-smack1802 severe1805 neat1806 swell1810 stamming1814 divine1818 great1818 slap-up1823 slapping1825 high-grade1826 supernacular1828 heavenly1831 jam-up1832 slick1833 rip-roaring1834 boss1836 lummy1838 flash1840 slap1840 tall1840 high-graded1841 awful1843 way up1843 exalting1844 hot1845 ripsnorting1846 clipping1848 stupendous1848 stunning1849 raving1850 shrewd1851 jammy1853 slashing1854 rip-staving1856 ripping1858 screaming1859 up to dick1863 nifty1865 premier cru1866 slap-bang1866 clinking1868 marvellous1868 rorty1868 terrific1871 spiffing1872 all wool and a yard wide1882 gorgeous1883 nailing1883 stellar1883 gaudy1884 fizzing1885 réussi1885 ding-dong1887 jim-dandy1888 extra-special1889 yum-yum1890 out of sight1891 outasight1893 smooth1893 corking1895 large1895 super1895 hot dog1896 to die for1898 yummy1899 deevy1900 peachy1900 hi1901 v.g.1901 v.h.c.1901 divvy1903 doozy1903 game ball1905 goodo1905 bosker1906 crackerjack1910 smashinga1911 jake1914 keen1914 posh1914 bobby-dazzling1915 juicy1916 pie on1916 jakeloo1919 snodger1919 whizz-bang1920 wicked1920 four-star1921 wow1921 Rolls-Royce1922 whizz-bang1922 wizard1922 barry1923 nummy1923 ripe1923 shrieking1926 crazy1927 righteous1930 marvy1932 cool1933 plenty1933 brahmaa1935 smoking1934 solid1935 mellow1936 groovy1937 tough1937 bottler1938 fantastic1938 readyc1938 ridge1938 super-duper1938 extraordinaire1940 rumpty1940 sharp1940 dodger1941 grouse1941 perfecto1941 pipperoo1945 real gone1946 bosting1947 supersonic1947 whizzo1948 neato1951 peachy-keen1951 ridgey-dite1953 ridgy-didge1953 top1953 whizzing1953 badass1955 wild1955 belting1956 magic1956 bitching1957 swinging1958 ridiculous1959 a treat1959 fab1961 bad-assed1962 uptight1962 diggish1963 cracker1964 marv1964 radical1964 bakgat1965 unreal1965 pearly1966 together1968 safe1970 bad1971 brilliant1971 fabby1971 schmick1972 butt-kicking1973 ripper1973 Tiffany1973 bodacious1976 rad1976 kif1978 awesome1979 death1979 killer1979 fly1980 shiok1980 stonking1980 brill1981 dope1981 to die1982 mint1982 epic1983 kicking1983 fabbo1984 mega1985 ill1986 posho1989 pukka1991 lovely jubbly1992 awesomesauce2001 nang2002 bess2006 amazeballs2009 boasty2009 daebak2009 beaut2013 1609 B. Jonson Case is Alterd iii. sig. I2^v Is not this pure ? View more context for this quotation 1675 W. Wycherley Country-wife iii. 32 I was quiet enough, till my Husband told me, what pure lives, the London Ladies live abroad, with their dancing, meeting and junketings. 1695 W. Congreve Love for Love v. i. 81 O I have pure News, I can tell you pure News. a1726 J. Vanbrugh Journey to London (1728) i. ii. 14 A slice of it [sc. goose pie] before Supper to-night would have been pure. 1747 D. Garrick Miss in her Teens ii. 18 The Door's double-lock'd, and I have the Key in my Pocket. Biddy. That's pure. 1888 W. E. Henley & R. L. Stevenson Deacon Brodie (rev. ed.) i. iii. 28 Oh, such manners are pure, pure, pure. †b. pure and —: very, truly; entirely, utterly. Cf. and conj.¹ 5. See also sense B. 1. Obsolete (regional in later use).With pure and well cf. sense A. 8c. ΘΚΠ the mind > goodness and badness > quality of being good > excellence > [adjective] faireOE bremea1000 goodlyOE goodfulc1275 noblec1300 pricec1300 specialc1325 gentlec1330 fine?c1335 singulara1340 thrivena1350 thriven and throa1350 gaya1375 properc1380 before-passinga1382 daintiful1393 principala1398 gradelya1400 burlyc1400 daintyc1400 thrivingc1400 voundec1400 virtuousc1425 hathelc1440 curiousc1475 singlerc1500 beautiful1502 rare?a1534 gallant1539 eximious1547 jolly1548 egregious?c1550 jellyc1560 goodlike1562 brawc1565 of worth1576 brave?1577 surprising1580 finger-licking1584 admirablea1586 excellinga1586 ambrosial1598 sublimated1603 excellent1604 valiant1604 fabulous1609 pure1609 starryc1610 topgallant1613 lovely1614 soaringa1616 twanging1616 preclarent1623 primea1637 prestantious1638 splendid1644 sterling1647 licking1648 spankinga1666 rattling1690 tearing1693 famous1695 capital1713 yrare1737 pure and —1742 daisy1757 immense1762 elegant1764 super-extra1774 trimming1778 grand1781 gallows1789 budgeree1793 crack1793 dandy1794 first rate1799 smick-smack1802 severe1805 neat1806 swell1810 stamming1814 divine1818 great1818 slap-up1823 slapping1825 high-grade1826 supernacular1828 heavenly1831 jam-up1832 slick1833 rip-roaring1834 boss1836 lummy1838 flash1840 slap1840 tall1840 high-graded1841 awful1843 way up1843 exalting1844 hot1845 ripsnorting1846 clipping1848 stupendous1848 stunning1849 raving1850 shrewd1851 jammy1853 slashing1854 rip-staving1856 ripping1858 screaming1859 up to dick1863 nifty1865 premier cru1866 slap-bang1866 clinking1868 marvellous1868 rorty1868 terrific1871 spiffing1872 all wool and a yard wide1882 gorgeous1883 nailing1883 stellar1883 gaudy1884 fizzing1885 réussi1885 ding-dong1887 jim-dandy1888 extra-special1889 yum-yum1890 out of sight1891 outasight1893 smooth1893 corking1895 large1895 super1895 hot dog1896 to die for1898 yummy1899 deevy1900 peachy1900 hi1901 v.g.1901 v.h.c.1901 divvy1903 doozy1903 game ball1905 goodo1905 bosker1906 crackerjack1910 smashinga1911 jake1914 keen1914 posh1914 bobby-dazzling1915 juicy1916 pie on1916 jakeloo1919 snodger1919 whizz-bang1920 wicked1920 four-star1921 wow1921 Rolls-Royce1922 whizz-bang1922 wizard1922 barry1923 nummy1923 ripe1923 shrieking1926 crazy1927 righteous1930 marvy1932 cool1933 plenty1933 brahmaa1935 smoking1934 solid1935 mellow1936 groovy1937 tough1937 bottler1938 fantastic1938 readyc1938 ridge1938 super-duper1938 extraordinaire1940 rumpty1940 sharp1940 dodger1941 grouse1941 perfecto1941 pipperoo1945 real gone1946 bosting1947 supersonic1947 whizzo1948 neato1951 peachy-keen1951 ridgey-dite1953 ridgy-didge1953 top1953 whizzing1953 badass1955 wild1955 belting1956 magic1956 bitching1957 swinging1958 ridiculous1959 a treat1959 fab1961 bad-assed1962 uptight1962 diggish1963 cracker1964 marv1964 radical1964 bakgat1965 unreal1965 pearly1966 together1968 safe1970 bad1971 brilliant1971 fabby1971 schmick1972 butt-kicking1973 ripper1973 Tiffany1973 bodacious1976 rad1976 kif1978 awesome1979 death1979 killer1979 fly1980 shiok1980 stonking1980 brill1981 dope1981 to die1982 mint1982 epic1983 kicking1983 fabbo1984 mega1985 ill1986 posho1989 pukka1991 lovely jubbly1992 awesomesauce2001 nang2002 bess2006 amazeballs2009 boasty2009 daebak2009 beaut2013 1742 H. Fielding Joseph Andrews I. ii. xiv. 268 They [sc. hogs] were all pure and fat. View more context for this quotation 1769 W. Romaine Let. 27 Oct. (1795) xxvii. 122 I saw Lady H—— ——, who was pure and well. 1788 C. Smith Emmeline IV. xiv. 340 You would have been pure and happy, to drive about in a one horse chaise. 1838 W. Holloway Gen. Dict. Provincialisms 134/1 Pure, in good health; as ‘I am pure and well.’ 1864 J. S. Le Fanu Uncle Silas II. viii. 127 Here's a stone that's pure and flat to sit upon. 1873 Timothy Towser 5 He wor puer an proud ovver ut, too. c. Chiefly English regional. Well; in good health. Cf. purely adj. ΚΠ 1839 G. C. Lewis Gloss. Words Herefordshire in Eng. Dial. Dict. (1903) IV. 650/1 My mistress gives her service to you and she is pure. 1854 Notes & Queries 1st Ser. 9 527/1 The word pure is commonly used in Gloucestershire to express being in good health... ‘I hope, Zur, the ladies be all pure.’ a1903 W. F. Rose in Eng. Dial. Dict. (1903) IV. 650/1 [Somerset] ‘How b'ye?’ ‘Pure, thenkye.’ 1988 J. Lavers Dict. Isle of Wight Dial. 66 Pure..well. B. adv.See also Compounds 2. 1. Absolutely, entirely, thoroughly; very; just, really, truly. Now regional (chiefly U.S. and Scottish).Chiefly from sense A. 3b, but in 18th cent. colloquial use with admixture of sense A. 8b. ΘΚΠ the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > [adverb] mid or with (‥) soothc888 soothfastlya890 soothfastc950 rightOE yeaOE soothlyOE soothOE trulyc1225 soothrightc1275 purec1300 verament1303 verily1303 purelyc1325 verimentc1325 indeedc1330 veirec1330 soothfully1340 faithlyc1350 of very (due) right?a1366 leallya1375 amenc1384 in soothnessc1386 verya1387 in certaina1400 truea1400 without(en) wougha1400 in veirec1400 in deedc1405 without famec1430 in veramentc1450 utterlyc1460 veritably1481 veritable1490 voirably1501 seriously1644 quite1736 quite1881 the world > relative properties > quantity > greatness of quantity, amount, or degree > high or intense degree > [adverb] > utterly allOE allOE outlyOE thwert-outc1175 skerea1225 thoroughc1225 downrightc1275 purec1300 purelyc1300 faira1325 finelyc1330 quitec1330 quitelyc1330 utterlyc1374 outerlya1382 plainlya1382 straighta1387 allutterly1389 starkc1390 oultrelya1393 plata1393 barec1400 outrightc1400 incomparablyc1422 absolutely?a1425 simpliciter?a1425 staringa1425 quitementa1450 properlyc1450 directly1455 merec1475 incomparable1482 preciselyc1503 clean?1515 cleara1522 plain1535 merely1546 stark1553 perfectly1555 right-down1566 simply1574 flat1577 flatly1577 skire1581 plumb1588 dead?1589 rankly1590 stark1593 sheera1600 start1599 handsmooth1600 peremptory1601 sheerly1601 rank1602 utter1619 point-blank1624 proofa1625 peremptorily1626 downrightly1632 right-down1646 solid1651 clever1664 just1668 hollow1671 entirely1673 blank1677 even down1677 cleverly1696 uncomparatively1702 subtly1733 point1762 cussed1779 regularly1789 unqualifiedly1789 irredeemably1790 positively1800 cussedly1802 heart1812 proper1816 slick1818 blankly1822 bang1828 smack1828 pluperfectly1831 unmitigatedly1832 bodaciously1833 unredeemedly1835 out of sight1839 bodacious1845 regular1846 thoroughly1846 ingrainedly1869 muckinga1880 fucking1893 motherless1898 self1907 stone1928 sideways1956 terminally1974 c1300 St. Kenelm (Laud) 259 in C. Horstmann Early S.-Eng. Legendary (1887) 352 (MED) Þat writ was puyr on Englisch i-write. a1375 (c1350) William of Palerne (1867) 3093 (MED) I wold socour hire..& pult hire out of þis peril in pure litel while. a1425 (a1400) Prick of Conscience (Galba & Harl.) (1863) 2499 (MED) Our ille dedys er pur ille wroght, Bot our gud dedis pur gud er noght. 1493 Chastysing Goddes Chyldern (de Worde) sig. Hi/1 It is pure easy..to folow god and serue hym in tyme of tranquylite. 1560 J. Daus tr. J. Sleidane Commentaries f. xxxvij This yere [1522] departed Reucline, a pure aged man [L. aetate gravis]. 1710 J. Swift Jrnl. to Stella 23 Sept. (1948) I. 28 Ballygall will be a pure good place for air. 1750 L. Bushe in M. Delany Autobiogr. & Corr. (1861) II. 548 Your amiable and worthy sister is pure well. 1810 Splendid Follies I. 78 The course will be pure swampy in some parts. 1888 S. O. Addy Gloss. Words Sheffield 183 ‘Pure well’ is very well. 1901 ‘M. E. Francis’ Pastorals of Dorset 269 I be pure sorry they Boers haven't a-done it for en. 1928 J. M. Peterkin Scarlet Sister Mary iii. 27 My jaws pure leak water just to look at em. 1932 W. Faulkner Light in August xv. 332 He was pure crazy by now, standing on the corner and yelling at whoever would pass. 1967 N. Mailer Why are we in Vietnam? v. 83 He inquires after Big Ollie's second gun, knowing pure well there is only the Remington 721. 1993 I. Welsh Trainspotting 71 Lizzy tells us that she pure fancies going to the pictures to see The Accused. 2. Qualifying an adjective of colour (chiefly white): purely, with no admixture of any other colour. Not always clearly distinguishable from the adjective when pure white is used attributively and the adjective might easily modify the noun, as pure white rose, etc. ΘΚΠ the world > matter > colour > quality of colour > [adverb] > pure or clear purec1325 purely1509 c1325 (c1300) Chron. Robert of Gloucester (Calig.) 182 So clene & vair & pur ȝwit [v.r. purwyt] among oþere men hit [read hij; v.r. heo; a1400 Trin. Cambr. hij] beþ. 1530 J. Palsgrave Lesclarcissement 259/2 Pure white sylke, soye bissine. 1594 R. Barnfield Affectionate Shepheard ii. xxxix. sig. Di For pure white the Lilly beares the Bell. a1616 W. Shakespeare Winter's Tale (1623) iii. iii. 21 In pure white Robes Like very sanctity she did approach. View more context for this quotation a1618 J. Sylvester New-polished Spectacles in tr. G. de S. Du Bartas Diuine Weekes & Wks. (1621) 1183 The Lilly (first) pure-whitest Flowr of any. 1688 H. Walker tr. C. Gallus in J. Barker Poet. Recreations ii. 220 Her pure white Hair around her shoulders spread. 1710 A. Philips Pastorals i. 5 A Lambkin too, pure white. 1777 H. Mackenzie Julia de Roubigné I. xvi. 167 Her bosom looked as pure white as the driven snow. 1805 M. Lewis Jrnl. 8 July in Jrnls. Lewis & Clark Exped. (1987) IV. 367 The spaces between..is marked by ranges of pure white circular spots. 1853 W. Gregory Inorg. Chem. (ed. 3) 256 Gold is distinguished by its pure yellow colour. 1910 Encycl. Brit. I. 780/1 Others are pure white or of varying shades of yellow or green. 1922 Endocrinology 6 222 A litter of eight pure black rats. 2002 S. J. Gould Struct. Evolutionary Theory v. 389 The Holy Ghost, depicted as a pure white dove in many medieval paintings. †3. Purely (in various senses); simply, merely; rightly; chastely. Obsolete. rare. ΘΚΠ the mind > goodness and badness > quality of being good > perfection > [adverb] > without flaw, corruption, damage, etc. scathelya1375 purea1500 inviolatelya1513 purely1537 with (the) safety of?1560 untaintedly1611 immaculately1620 pluperfectly1831 scathelessly1844 faultlessly1856 unaccusably1859 specklessly1862 impeccably1874 flawlessly1884 flecklessly1891 society > morality > virtue > purity > [adverb] cleanlyc1200 shirelyc1230 purely?a1425 undefiledly1548 sincerely1578 unspottedly1598 purea1616 immaculately1620 intemeratelya1631 spotlesslya1671 stainlessly1882 the world > relative properties > wholeness > state or quality of being simple, unmixed, or uncompounded > [adverb] > simply, only, or merely butOE onlya1325 alone?c1335 purelya1375 alonelya1400 nobbuta1400 simplya1400 plain1535 barely1577 merelyc1580 purea1616 singly1655 just1668 sommer1835 maara1931 a1500 (a1475) G. Ashby Dicta Philosophorum 590 in Poems (1899) 69 (MED) A kynge shude be right besy and studious To gouerne his Roiaulme & his people pure. a1616 W. Shakespeare Twelfth Night (1623) v. i. 79 For his sake, Did I expose my selfe (pure for his loue) Into the danger. View more context for this quotation a1616 W. Shakespeare Hamlet (1623) iii. iv. 149 O throw away the worser part of it, And liue the purer with the other halfe. C. n. †1. That which is pure; purity. Obsolete (poetic in later use). [In quots. a1382¹ and a1382² rendering post-classical Latin ad purum purely (4th cent.), lit. ‘to the pure’ (classical Latin pūrum, use as noun of neuter of pūrus, is only attested denoting a clear, unclouded sky).] ΘΚΠ society > morality > virtue > purity > [noun] > that which is pure purea1382 a1382 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Bodl. 959) 3 Kings xiv. 10 I schal clensen þe relikes of þe hous of Jeroboam, as is wont to ben clensyd muc vn to þe pure [a1425 L.V. til to the purete, ether clennesse; L. usque ad purum]. a1382 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Bodl. 959) (1969) Isa. i. 25 I shal sethen out to þe pure [a1425 L.V. to the cleene; L. ad purum] þi dros. 1593 T. Lodge in R. S. Phœnix Nest 50 Hir eies shrowd pitie, pietie, and pure. 1662 K. Evans & S. Chevers Short Relation Cruel Sufferings 60 That is the Enemies opportunity to step in..and to vail the pure, and darken the understanding. 1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost viii. 627 Union of Pure with Pure. View more context for this quotation 1873 R. Browning Red Cotton Night-cap Country ii. 117 How heaven's own pure may seem To blush. 1874 Ld. Tennyson Merlin & Vivien (new ed.) in Wks. VI. 10 The mask of pure Worn by this court. 1898 G. Meredith Odes French Hist. 6 Earth's warrior Best To win Heaven's Pure. 2. a. With the. Pure people as a class; those people considered or considering themselves to be untainted by immorality. ΚΠ c1440 (?c1350) in G. G. Perry Relig. Pieces in Prose & Verse (1914) 31 (MED) Þe gude folke þat are in religion..are sothefastly pure, and þairs es þe Ioye of heuen, For þat es the benyson of þe pure. 1526 Bible (Tyndale) Titus i. 15 Unto the pure are all thynges pure. a1586 Sir P. Sidney Psalms xviii Pure to the pure, thou deal'st with the crooked crookedly. a1627 (a1598) A. Montgomerie Poems (2000) lxiii. 103 Quhat Justice sauld! vhat pilling of the pure! 1721 R. Blackmore New Version Psalms i. 2 The Wicked cannot..enter..Th' Assembly of the Pure. ?1805 S. T. Coleridge Ad Vilmum Axiologum in Poems No. 189. 392 List! the Hearts of the Pure, like caves in the ancient mountains. 1895 G. Allen Woman who Did vii. 80 Herminia, for her part, never discovered she was talked about. To the pure all things are pure. 1914 B. Tarkington Penrod v. 31 I am the purest of the pure. I have but kindest thoughts each day. 1992 Economist 22 Feb. 64/1 Sikhs want an independent homeland called Khalistan, or land of the Pure. †b. A genuine person. Obsolete. rare. ΘΚΠ the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > sincerity, freedom from deceit > [noun] > sincere person Honest John1855 straight goods1892 pure1924 straight arrow1969 1924 W. M. Raine Troubled Waters xix. 201 You-all are losing a better man than Missie ever had. He's a pure, Mac is. †3. ‘Pured’ fur: see pured n., purray n. Obsolete. ΘΚΠ society > occupation and work > materials > raw material > skin or hide > skin with hair attached or fur > [noun] > of squirrel strandlingc1299 vaira1300 miniverc1300 calaber1362 pured miniver1379 purray1429 pured?1435 squirrel1436 pople1493 pure1512 amice1548 squirrel1827 1512 in J. B. Paul Accts. Treasurer Scotl. (1902) IV. 215 For lyning of the said Tanne weluus goune within with puyr. †4. slang. A kept mistress. Obsolete. ΘΚΠ society > morality > moral evil > licentiousness > unchastity > [noun] > illicit intimacy > person > a mistress chevesea700 wifeOE bed-sister1297 concubine1297 leman1297 file1303 speciala1400 womanc1400 chamberer?a1425 mistress?a1439 cousin1470 doxy?1515 doll1560 pinnacea1568 nobsya1575 lier-by1583 sweetheart1589 she-friend1600 miss1606 underput1607 concupy1609 lig-by1610 factoress1611 leveret1617 night-piece1621 belly-piece1632 dolly1648 lie-bya1656 madamc1660 small girl1671 natural1674 convenient1676 lady of the lake1678 pure1688 tackle1688 sultana1703 kind girl1712 bosom-slave1728 pop1785 chère amie1792 fancy-woman1819 hetaera1820 fancy-piece1821 poplolly1821 secondary wife1847 other woman1855 fancy-girl1892 querida1902 wifelet1983 1688 T. Shadwell Squire of Alsatia ii. i. 32 Where's..the Blowing, that is to be my Natural, my Convenient, my Pure. 1699 B. E. New Dict. Canting Crew Pure, a Mistress. 5. Medicine. Originally: a surgeon or physician who does not dispense medication. In later use: a hospital surgeon; a consultant surgeon. Cf. sense A. 2e. Obsolete (historical in later use). ΘΚΠ the world > health and disease > healing > healer > specialist > [noun] pure1827 specialist1839 1827 Lancet 15 Dec. 434/2 Do the Pures profess a kind of surgery in the abstract? 1843 J. Paget Let. 19 Dec. in Mem. & Lett. (1901) vi. 148 The election of the pures in London was not I am told general. [Editor's note, 1901] The ‘pures’ were the surgeons in consulting practice. 1881 Lancet 10 Dec. 1021/1 The ‘pure’ foreseeing that in paying much attention to one organ there would be a natural tendency to forget the rest of the body,..did not fail to point this out... It was a mixture of these two feelings which led the older ‘pures’ to exclaim..against special practice and to cause them to treat all special practitioners as ‘specialists’. 6. Also pewer, puer. Tanning. Canine or other faeces used as an alkaline lye in which to steep hides. Now historical. ΘΚΠ society > occupation and work > materials > derived or manufactured material > leather > leather-making materials > [noun] > other leather-making materials sabrasc1480 stuff1812 pure1842 bran-drench1883 moellon1897 sig1897 plumper1903 1842 Penny Mag. May 212/1 A solution called the ‘pure’ or the ‘pewer’ (having never seen the word written.., we must spell it as pronounced) is prepared in a large vessel, and into this the skins are immersed. 1851 H. Mayhew London Labour II. 142/1 Dogs'-dung is called ‘Pure’, from its cleansing and purifying properties. 1938 R. Hum Chem. for Engin. Students xxviii. 775 In the case of soft pliable leathers, another process is also used, before passing on to the tanning. This is known as the Puer or Bates Process, and consists in soaking, in a warm mixture of water and dog's or bird's dung, for two or three days. 1946 Thorpe's Dict. Appl. Chem. (ed. 4) VII. 264/2 Modern artificial bates have replaced almost completely the older ‘dung bate’ or puer, an infusion of dog- or, less often, pigeon-dung. 7. slang (originally U.S.). Unadulterated or uncut heroin or (sometimes) cocaine. ΚΠ 1955 in Illicit Narcotics Traffic (U.S. Senate Comm. on Judiciary) (1956) vii. 2409 I think an ounce of pure cost about a hundred dollars then. 1967 ‘Iceberg Slim’ Pimp iv. 79 Musta' shot some ‘pure’, cause a lookout on the sidewalk heard him mumble before he croaked. ‘Well kiss my dead mammy's ass if this ain't the best “smack” I ever shot.’ 1986 ‘E. McBain’ Cinderella v. 68 Two kilos of pure, that was a bit more than seventy ounces. 1992 Guardian 28 Mar. (Weekend Suppl.) 10/4 I am re-packaging six ounces of Columbian pure for the scousers who are due any minute. Compounds C1. Compounds of the adjective. a. pure-bosomed adj. ΚΠ 1800 W. Cowper Poems (new ed.) I. 315 Blessing and blest where'er she goes, Pure-bosom'd as that wat'ry glass, And heav'n reflected in her face. 1852 Ladies Repository Jan. 40/2 She who does otherwise, does that which no high-aiming, pure-bosomed female could do—she pollutes her marriage vow. 2004 Jrnl. Ecumenical Stud. (Nexis) 1 Jan. Mary became selfless, and in this selflessness she said, ‘I will leap into God's protection’, because that pure-bosomed one could take herself to the Unseen. pure-coloured adj. ΚΠ 1721 C. K. Art's Master-piece (ed. 5) ii. i. 88 When 'tis pure colour'd work it as you please. 1891 W. Morris News from Nowhere xxi. 158 I looked around my little sleeping chamber and saw the pale but pure-coloured figures painted on the plaster of the wall. 1910 Encycl. Brit. I. 509/1 When one of these albinoes is bred with a pure coloured individual, a mixed offspring will appear in the first generation. 1993 Metrop. Mus. Jrnl. 28 188 The young artist also turned to bolder pure-colored wet-wash practices as a model. pure-eyed adj. ΚΠ 1637 J. Milton Comus 8 O welcome pure-ey'd Faith, white-handed Hope..And thou unblemish't forme of Chastitie. 1793 W. Kendall Poems 47 Lo! pure-eyed virtue lends her aid To celebrate a spotless maid. 1891 G. Meredith One of our Conquerors III. x. 202 The tall pure-eyed girl before him, was, young though she was, already in the fight with evil. 1931 Weekly Kansas City (Missouri) Star 10 June 6/3 ‘I believe you’, said Belinda, pure-eyed and trustful, ‘yet there is something, something that you are keeping from me’. 1997 Guardian (Nexis) 19 June 19 The pure-eyed battles these people couldn't refrain from fighting. † pure-mannered adj. Obsolete ΚΠ a1863 W. M. Thackeray Miscellanies (1877) IV. 530/1 The most spotless, pure-mannered darling of a princess that ever married a heartless debauchee of a Prince Royal. pure-natured adj. ΚΠ 1855 W. Bagehot Coll. Wks. (1965) I. 319 They are emphatically pure~natured and firm-natured. Instinctively casting aside the coarse temptations and crude excitements of a vulgar earth, [etc.]. 1913 J. Masefield Daffodil Fields 12 Gentle she seemed, pure-natured, thoughtful, wise. 2002 Sunday Tel. (Nexis) 5 May 14 [Vautrin's] sanctification of his women characters, be they tarts with hearts..[or] pure-natured factory girls ravished by the bourgeoisie. pure-sighted adj. ΚΠ 1596 E. Spenser Hymne Heauenly Loue in Fowre Hymnes 276 All earthes glorie..[will] Seeme durt and drosse in thy pure-sighted eye. 1638 R. Brathwait Psalmes of David 28 Just therefore, as my Justice stands, the Lord to mee supplies: Rewards the purenesse of my hands in his pure-sighted eies. 1898 Nebraska State Jrnl. 23 Jan. 13/1 We are made to see the world—that is, her world—through her eyes, which are perfectly pure-sighted... Her child-soul remains unsullied. 1997 Los Angeles Times (Nexis) 19 Oct. 7 He became known as a recluse, his ‘appearance’ in poetry pure-sighted and merciless. pure-souled adj. ΚΠ 1830 E. Duros Derwentwater I. 155 Has thy pure souled loyalty led only to this reward? 1898 R. Kipling Day's Work 78 He ain't any high-toned, pure-souled child o' nature. 1910 F. M. Ford Let. 28 Oct. (1965) 45 When you—the unscrupulous villain and I, the pure-souled Idealist join forces how that dovecote will flutter! 2006 Guardian (Nexis) 7 Jan. (Review section) 7 There are few heroes in it,..none of Kafka's own pure-souled sufferers; everyone is stained, contaminated, implicated. pure-toned adj. ΚΠ 1831 N. Amer. Rev. Jan. 91 She has the strong sense, the quiet energy, the pure-toned feeling, the absence of affectation,..which would secure the highest esteem and admiration in real life. 1927 Musical Times 68 269/2 This happy body of choralists has established a well-merited reputation for balanced and pure-toned singing. 1993 Classic CD Oct. 62/4 Surprisingly pure-toned for Debussy, her performance..is refreshing. b. pure-breeding n. and adj. (a) n. the production of genetically similar progeny (cf. pure-bred adj.); (b) adj. producing genetically similar progeny. ΚΠ 1903 Biometrika 2 171 This does not help us to decide whether the relative inability to transmit whiteness is due to in-breeding or pure-breeding. 1922 R. C. Punnett Mendelism (ed. 6) ix. 88 The cock in a pure breeding strain of Plymouth Rocks is homozygous for the barring factor. 1964 D. Michie in G. H. Haggis et al. Introd. Molecular Biol. viii. 206 Griffith injected mice with living pneumococci of a pure-breeding strain lacking the polysaccharide capsule characteristic of most members of this species. 1990 Dogworld Aug. 109/2 Pure breeding is fine when things are going well, but disastrous when inbred faults such as weak hindquarters are being perpetuated. pure-cone adj. Zoology (of an animal, or its eye or retina) having only cones as photoreceptors. ΘΚΠ the world > animals > animal body > general parts > head and neck > [adjective] > having an eye or eyes > having cones as photoreceptors pure-cone1932 1932 Bull. Antivenin Inst. Amer. 5 69/1 The pure-cone reptilian eye not being subject to dazzle at ordinary intensities is served quite well by a round pupil, while a rod-and-cone eye such as that of the rattlesnake must have an elliptical pupil. 1962 Science Survey 3 243 One of the American ground squirrels, one of the few mammalian species known to have a pure-cone retina and to be strongly diurnal. 1997 Vision Res. 37 1867 In the pure-cone American chameleon retina, all visual opsins including rod opsin are expressed. pure culture n. Microbiology a culture in which only one strain or clone is present. ΘΚΠ the world > life > biology > laboratory analysis > material > [noun] > culture or medium culture1880 blood culture1881 cultivation1881 culture medium1883 pure culture1883 agar1885 broth1885 subculture1885 tube-culture1886 bouillon1887 stab-culture1889 streak culture1892 blood agar1893 microculture1893 shake culture1894 streak plate1895 broth culture1897 slant1899 plating1900 stock culture1903 touch preparation1908 tissue culture1912 plaque1924 slope1925 agar-agar1929 isolate1931 MacConkey1938 auxanogram1949 lawn1951 monolayer1952 replica plate1952 1883 Science 23 Nov. 677/1 A decision of the question..can only be settled experimentally by collecting the bacteria from the diseased tissue, breeding them by ‘pure culture’, and then reproducing the disease by infection experiments on animals. 1930 Forestry 4 66 It seemed possible..that pure culture experiments..might also yield some information..on the origin of the mycorrhizal habit in trees. 1997 Appl. & Environmental Microbiol. 63 4097/2 This is the first report on the isolation and characterization of a pure culture of bacteria capable of mineralizing TCP and using it as a sole source of carbon and energy. pure ego n. Philosophy and Psychology (chiefly in phenomenological thought) the essential, transcendental self that exists prior to, and is unchanged by, experience. ΘΚΠ the mind > mental capacity > psychology > states of consciousness > superconsciousness > [noun] > transcendental self pure ego1851 1851 J. J. G. Wilkinson Human Body 283 Those who attach themselves to the ‘pure Ego’ as having an independent life in itself. 1890 W. James Princ. Psychol. I. x. 296 By the Spiritual Self, so far as it belongs to the Empirical Me, I mean a man's inner or subjective being, his psychic faculties or dispositions, taken concretely; not the bare principle of personal Unity, or ‘pure’ Ego. 1931 W. R. B. Gibson tr. E. Husserl Ideas ii. ii. 145 The thesis of my pure Ego and its personal life which is ‘necessary’ and plainly indubitable, thus stands opposed to the thesis of the world which is contingent. 1961 G. W. Allport Devel. of Personality vi. 129 Kant argued that..the knowing self is just there, a transcendental or pure ego. 1974 G. L. Breckon tr. A. de Muralt Idea of Phenomenol. §52. 328 The pure ego is therefore the subject of transcendental constitution, the ego pole of intentionality, the centre and point of departure of every intentional function. 1998 Critical Inq. 25 29 No soul, no pure ego, no extrapolated physical presence that would testify to a person's unique, unreplicable identity. pure food n. (also Pure Food) attributive of, relating to, or concerned with the promotion of food that is free from preservatives, colouring, or other additives, or cultivated without the use of chemical fertilizers (cf. organic adj. 8c). ΘΚΠ the world > food and drink > food > qualities of food > [adjective] > pure or organic pure food1894 organic1960 1894 Jrnl. Franklin Inst. Apr. 267 Senator Paddock, of Nebraska..after years of futile struggle, succeeded in having the Senate pass what is known as the Pure Food Bill. 1913 Collier's Weekly 16 Aug. 24/2 The clubwomen of Idaho are banded together to have their State known as a pure-food State. 1923 P. G. Wodehouse Inimitable Jeeves xvi. 214 I was feeling more or less like something the Pure Food Committee had rejected. 1969 ‘I. Drummond’ Man with Tiny Head xiv. 161 He was..a pure-food fanatic with a hatred of chemical fertilisers. 2000 A. Cooper & L. M. Holmes Bitter Harvest i. 15 A pure food law introduced to Congress in 1889 was virtually laughed off the floor. pure-hearted adj. and n. (a) adj.pure of heart; (b) n.(with the) pure-hearted people as a class. ΚΠ 1613 W. Leighton Teares or Lament. 155 All yee that are pure hearted men, in great [printed grear] Iehouah, still reioyce. 1702 L. Echard Gen. Eccl. Hist. i. iv. 67 To the Pure-hearted, who shou'd see God. 1813 S. T. Coleridge Coll. Lett. (1959) III. 461 Two virtuous, pure-hearted..Women. 1832 J. G. Whittier in S. T. Pickard Life & Lett. J. G. Whittier (1894) I. iii. 108 Those who o'er our tarnished honor grieve..the pure-hearted and the gifted. 1927 V. Woolf To Lighthouse i. iv. 39 Praise would be an insult to you; generous, pure-hearted, heroic man! 1994 Film Comment Sept.–Oct. 63/1 Her independent, pally-aggressive, tarnished but purehearted heroine. 1996 N.Y. Rev. Bks. 1 Feb. 8/3 The simple-minded (as they used to be more accurately called) are also the pure-hearted. pure-jet adj. and n. Aeronautics (a) adj. designating engines, aircraft, etc., in which all thrust is provided directly by the exhaust jet, without the assistance of fans or propellers; (b) n. a pure-jet engine or aircraft. ΘΚΠ society > travel > air or space travel > a means of conveyance through the air > aeroplane > [adjective] > having jet or turbo-jet engines multi-jet1910 pure-jet1944 turbojet1945 twin-jet1946 society > travel > air or space travel > a means of conveyance through the air > aeroplane > parts of aircraft > means of propulsion > [adjective] > types of jet engine ramjet1942 pure-jet1944 propeller turbine1945 turbojet1945 turbopropeller1947 fan-lift1961 reheated1961 1944 Times 26 May 2/1 There were three possible lines of development—the pure jet propulsion turbine unit, the combined jet and airscrew turbine unit, and the composite piston engine-turbine unit. 1951 N.Y. Times Mag. 21 Oct. 59/2 Certainly, the pure jet does land a little ‘hotter’ than the propeller plane. 1960 C. H. Gibbs-Smith Aeroplane xvi. 127 Turboprop engines are ideal for commercial airliners whose operations take them too far from the optimum conditions of altitude and speed necessary for the economic use of the pure jet. 1986 Aviation News July 177/1 As far back as 25 July 1949, more than a year before hopes of the pure-jet XF-88 were dashed, [etc.]. pure line n. and adj. [after German reine Linie ( W. Johannsen Ueber Erblichkeit in Populationen u. in reinen Linien (1903) 9)] Genetics and Agriculture (a) n. an inbred line of descent; (b) adj. belonging to such a line. ΘΚΠ the world > life > biology > biological processes > genetic activity > heredity or hereditary descent > [noun] > descent from common ancestor > inbreeding > inbred line pure line1903 1903 New Phytologist 2 236 These passages give the aim of Professor Johannsen's work, viz. the elucidation of the statistical laws of heredity for the race by the study of the corresponding laws for the ‘pure line’, i.e. the posterity of a single self-fertilised individual. 1932 Discovery Oct. 320/2 In the cotton industry we have the magnificent succession of ‘pure lines’ particularly in the Egyptian cottons. 1965 ‘Lauchmonen’ Old Thom's Harvest i. 5 When I get my credit-bank money to buy pure-line seeds them ricefields gwine be planted again. 2004 Jrnl. Animal Sci. 82 1902/1 The advantages of crossbred pigs over pure line pigs were substantial for all traits. pure-minded adj. having a pure mind, pure of mind. ΚΠ 1789 H. Mustafa tr. Ghulam Husain Khan Sëir Mutaqharin I. 452 The merits of my pure-minded [Persian pākīza-nafas] and immaculate bodied..ancestors. a1822 P. B. Shelley Peter Bell III vi, in Poet. Wks. (?1840) 245/1 The most sublime, religious, Pure-minded Poet. 1892 R. L. Stevenson & L. Osbourne Wrecker iii. 43 To be pure-minded, to be patriotic, to get culture and money with both hands and with the same irrational fervour. 1912 Catholic Encycl. XIV. 664/1 The pure-minded novice drove the temptress from his room. 2006 Edmonton (Alberta) Jrnl. (Nexis) 11 Feb. e1 The pure-minded do-gooder types who inhabit the colourful, idealized New York of Damon Runyon's short stories. pure-mindedness n. the quality of being pure-minded; purity of mind. ΚΠ 1799 tr. I. Kant Ess. & Treat. II. 385 Whoever possesses such a pure mindedness [Ger. lautere Gesinnung] as is required, is certain that he never can fall so low as to be once more in love with the bad. 1863 M. Arnold in Fraser's Mag. Jan. 49/2 Treasures..of pure-mindedness. 1891 G. Meredith One of our Conquerors III. vii. 135 He might have put a reluctant faith in the puremindedness of these aspirations, without reverting to her origin. 2000 Weekly Standard (Nexis) 7 Feb. 4 Where, after all, does one send a child to educate her in bravery and pure-mindedness? pure play n. Stock Market and Business (chiefly U.S.) a company that focuses exclusively on one particular market or commodity; (now also) a company whose products are available only via the internet. ΚΠ 1969 Wall St. Jrnl. 23 June 33 For more aggressive investors, Loeb-Rhoades choices in the field are Monroe Auto Equipment and Midas International (over-the-counter). These..companies are viewed as the ‘pure plays’ in the field. 1996 Computer Reseller News 1 July 31/2 We're the only large pure play on the Internet or intranet that actually has revenue profits. 2000 Wired Apr. (Special Advt. section) How many people can name more than a couple of ‘pure play’ ecommerce sites (businesses without a bricks-and-mortar component) that are actually turning a profit? 2003 D. L. Scott Wall St. Words (ed. 3) 295 An investor who believes that snowmobiles are the wave of the future will search for a pure play in snowmobiles. pure-relational adj. Linguistics (now rare) designating an element that describes a relationship between objects which is part of the basic structure of the grammar of a language, e.g. a case of a noun; (also) designating a language rich in or characterized by such forms. ΚΠ 1921 E. Sapir Lang. v. 107 Pure Relational Concepts (purely abstract): normally expressed by affixing non-radical elements to radical elements..or by their inner modification, by independent words, or by position; serve to relate the concrete elements of the proposition to each other, thus giving it definite syntactic form. 1921 E. Sapir Lang. vi. 145 Languages that keep the syntactic relations pure and that do not possess the power to modify the significance of their radical elements by means of affixes or internal changes. We may call these Pure-relational non~deriving languages or, more tersely, Simple Pure-relational languages. These are the languages that cut most to the bone of linguistic expression. 1944 R. A. Hall Hungarian Gram. (Language Monograph No. 21) 22 There are three fundamental types of suffixes which are added to substantives: derivational (the plural suffix), concrete-relational (the personal possessive suffixes, expressing ownership of the object denoted by the noun, on the part of the person indicated by the suffix), and pure-relational (twenty suffixes, including the accusative, whose addition gives the substantive adverbial function). 1963 N. N. Poppe Tatar Man. ii. 34 Pure-relational suffixes are added to the concrete-relational (possessive) suffixes... The pure-relational suffixes serve to denote the relations between an object and other objects or between an object and an action. The system of pure-relational forms is what is commonly called ‘declension’. pure-rod adj. Zoology (of an animal, or its eye or retina) having only rods as photoreceptors. ΘΚΠ the world > animals > animal body > general parts > head and neck > [adjective] > having an eye or eyes > having rods as photoreceptors pure-rod1932 1932 G. L. Walls in Bull. Antivenin Inst. Amer. 5 69/1 The pure-rod eye sometimes has a pupil which is capable of absolute closure, as in many geckoes. 1962 Science Survey 3 242 In ‘pure-rod’ eyes the retinal structure is always the limiting factor for visual acuity and in these eyes it is always poor. 1992 Proc. National Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 89 6841 In spite of the pure-rod morphology of the photoreceptor cells, the biochemical properties of P521 and P467 resemble those of iodopsin (the chicken red-sensitive cone visual pigment) and rhodopsin. pure villeinage n. [after post-classical Latin villenagium purum (from 13th cent. in British legal sources), Middle French pure vilenage (1496 or earlier in the passage translated in quot. c1523)] Medieval History a form of villeinage in which the terms of service were not specified or limited, as distinguished from privileged villeinage. ΚΠ c1523 J. Rastell tr. Tenuris sig. Aiii^v/2 To hold in pure villennage [Fr. en pure vilenage] is to do all that the lord wyll hym commaunde. 1787 W. Muchall in tr. C. Saint German Doctor & Student (ed. 17) ii. xviii. 157 (note) While they perform the services which that custom imposes upon them, (light and easy as they are compared with the drudgery of pure villeinage in its orginal state). 1857 Times 26 Dec. 9/2 The relation, which had orginally been that of ‘privileged villenage’, was thus soon converted here and there into ‘pure villenage’. 1991 R. J. Steinfeld Invention Free Labor iv. 120 Apprenticeship, the form of English service that involved binding for long years and that earlier commentators had described as most like pure villeinage. C2. Combinations of the adverb with past participles. pure-driven adj. ΚΠ 1875 H. Ellison Stones from Quarry 311 Hiding all his failings as pure driven, Unsullied snow the stains on gravestones does. 1919 Ogden (Utah) Standard 24 June 5 It will eat away all stains and leave your tub as white as pure driven snow. 1988 Mountain Democrat (Placerville, Calif.) 7 Sept. a4 A wonderously woven sling [sc. sling-back shoe] in tan or pure driven white. pure-living adj. ΚΠ a1869 R. Leighton Reuben & other Poems (1875) ii. ii. 59 The cock that crows up all pure-living things, Warns us, like guilty spectres, to our lairs. 1896 Abp. Benson in Nat. Church Feb. 51/2 Pray we for a temperate, a pure-living people. 2006 Mail on Sunday (Nexis) 2 Apr. (You Mag.) 32 She's restrained enough only to smoke one and politely asks permission, first while sipping on an antioxidant green tea. Quite a yin-and-yang combination, albeit still not one that would meet with her pure-living parents' approval. pure-washed adj. ΚΠ a1729 E. Taylor Poems (1960) 333 A flock of pure Washt Sheep more white. 1802 R. Bloomfield Rural Tales 76 On the pure-wash'd sand. 1993 Taste Aug.–Sept. 55/2 The espresso experts..warn against using pure washed arabicas in a blend. C3. Objective compounds of the noun (in sense C. 6). pure collector n. ΚΠ 1851 H. Mayhew London Labour II. 142/2 There are about 30 tanyards..and these all have their regular Pure collectors. 2006 Express (Nexis) 24 Apr. 43 We might never know the misery endured by the Pure Collector, who collected dog dirt from the streets and sold it to leather-makers. pure-finder n. ΚΠ 1851 H. Mayhew London Labour II. 142/1 The name of ‘Pure-finders’..has been applied to the men engaged in collecting dogs'-dung from the..streets. 1961 Times 17 Aug. 11/2 There is perhaps some Schadenfreude involved in reading about all those orphans and mudlarks and pure-finders. 2005 Philadelphia Inquirer (Nexis) 30 Oct. h7 She is particularly informative about the working poor whose livelihood depended on the sewers—the ‘flushers’ and ‘gangers’, ‘toshers’ and ‘pure finders’, who survived by (literally) paddling through the leavings of others. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2007; most recently modified version published online June 2022). purev. Brit. /pjʊə/, /pjɔː/, U.S. /pjʊ(ə)r/ Forms: Middle English ipurrid (past participle), Middle English powre, Middle English pury (south-eastern), Middle English puyr, Middle English–1600s 1800s– pure, 1900s– puer (in sense 3). Origin: Either (i) formed within English, by conversion. Or (ii) a borrowing from French. Etymons: pure adj.; French purer. Etymology: Either < pure adj. or < Anglo-Norman and Old French, Middle French purer to purify, cleanse (end of the 12th cent.; French purer , now regional) < classical Latin pūrāre to purify (with religious rites) < pūrus pure adj. Compare purify v.In Middle English prefixed and unprefixed forms of the past participle are attested (see y- prefix). †1. transitive. To make pure, purify; to cleanse; to refine, remove impurities from. Obsolete. ΘΚΠ the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > freedom from impurities > removal of impurities > remove impurities from [verb (transitive)] mereeOE spurge1303 fine1340 sendre1340 purea1350 purgec1350 purifya1398 depurea1400 clarifyc1430 expurge1483 defecatec1487 subtiliate1551 refine?1572 neatify1581 distil1599 sublimate1601 sweeten1601 depurate1620 infresh1635 lustre1645 lustrate1653 freshen1710 chasten1715 epurate1799 enchastena1806 dispollute1862 a1350 Recipe Painting in Archæol. Jrnl. (1844) 1 65 Ȝef thin asure..nis noht fin, tac i-tempret gleyr ant cast therto..whan hit is wel i-puret ant the gleyr i-hald out clene, thenne cast therto thi gummet-water ant writ. a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add.) f. 135 Westerne wyndis beþ most holsom..in þe ende of þe day, ffor þanne þe sonne is in þe west and pureþ [L. depurat] & clensiþ þe wyndes. ?a1425 Mandeville's Trav. (Egerton) (1889) 149 Pissemyres..pures [?a1425 Titus þei fynen] þe gold and disseuerez þe fyne gold fra þe vnfyne. c1475 ( Surg. Treat. in MS Wellcome 564 f. 25 (MED) Þe nutritif blood of þe Cristallyn humour passynge þoruȝ him, as watir þoruȝ a sponge, schulde be purid & clarified. ?a1500 in G. Henslow Med. Wks. 14th Cent. (1899) 44 Take the ius of tansy and hony y-puyryd, of ayþer y-lyche moche, and meld hym to-gedre. 1526 Grete Herball ccxxxvii. sig. Oi^v/1 Also there is that of syluer, and there is lytarge that is commely vsed and that is of tynne, whiche whan tynne is pured, it is made of the same vayne that tynne is. 1581 T. Howell His Deuises sig. G.iij As fyre by heate the Golde doth fine and pure. 1635 T. Heywood Hierarchie Blessed Angells v. 242 The Light, pur'd and refin'd. 1654 J. Mennes Recreation for Ingenious Head-peeces sig. T8 The Gold that's try'd from drosse is pur'd. †2. transitive. To make morally or spiritually pure; to purify or free (a person, oneself) from sin. Obsolete.In quot. c1350 apparently intransitive, but the syntax is unclear and the text probably corrupt. ΘΚΠ society > morality > virtue > purity > become pure [verb (intransitive)] purec1350 purify1852 society > morality > virtue > purity > make pure [verb (transitive)] cleansec897 shire?c1225 clengea1300 purge1340 purec1350 purifya1393 whitena1400 sprinkle1526 refine1594 simplify1609 sublime1613 purgate1795 revirginize1852 bleach1868 c1350 (a1333) William of Shoreham Poems (1902) 3 (MED) Aldey he to senne falleþ, Her ne moȝe nauȝt pury Of serewnessche. a1387 J. Trevisa tr. R. Higden Polychron. (St. John's Cambr.) (1871) III. 291 (MED) Þe soule may not knowe þe cheef causes of þinges but whan he is pured [L. depurata]. c1400 (?c1380) Cleanness (1920) 1116 (MED) Þou may schyne þurȝ schryfte..And pure þe with penaunce. c1440 (?a1396) W. Hilton in G. G. Perry Eng. Prose Treat. (1921) 18 Þat saule þat es purede in þe fyre of lufe of Godd. a1500 (a1475) G. Ashby Dicta Philosophorum 90 in Poems (1899) 46 (MED) Ye must pure youre selfe fyrst withoute blame. ?1542 E. Gosynhyll Prayse of all Women sig. Biii^v God the woman create Of thynge thus pured. 1608 T. Middleton Familie of Love (new ed.) iii. sig. D4 Jf you be vncleane..you may pure your selfe. 3. transitive. Tanning. To soak (hide) in a suspension of canine or other faeces. Cf. pure n. 6. Now historical. ΘΚΠ society > occupation and work > industry > working with specific materials > working with skins > work with skins [verb (transitive)] > steep hides lime1561 sumac1792 master1841 pure1842 bate1875 1842 Penny Mag. May 212/1 After being ‘pured’ for some time, the skins are taken out and scraped well. 1883 Workshop Receipts 2nd Ser. 366/2 They [sc. calf-skins] are then unhaired and fleshed in the usual manner, pured with a bate of dog's dung. 1913 D. J. Law in G. Martin Industr. & Manuf. Chem.: Organic xix. 580 The goods are then ‘puered’, which operation consists in paddling in a weak warm infusion of fermented dog-dung. 1930 H. F. Smith & W. L. Obold Industr. Microbiol. xv. 127 The skins are washed and then bated or pured. Derivatives ˈpuring n. Tanning (now historical) the action or process of puring hide. ΚΠ 1885 C. T. Davis Manuf. Leather xvii. 335 The operation of immersing hides and skins intended for the manufacture of..pliable leathers, in an alkaline solution consisting of the dung of chickens, pigeons, dogs, or in bran water..is termed either ‘bating,’ ‘abating,’ ‘grainering,’ ‘reducing,’ ‘drenching,’ or ‘puring.’ 1907 Cambr. Mod. Hist. Prospectus 100 Bating or puring as it is called, is a process by which all but a very small amount of the natural grease is removed from the skin. 1972 Materials & Technol. V. xii. 401 Puering and bating assist in the removal of short hairs, lime soaps, and cementing substances in the skin. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2007; most recently modified version published online June 2022). < adj.adv.n.c1300v.a1350
随便看	acanthine acanthite acantho acantho- acanthocephala acanthocephalan acanthocephalans acanthocephalid a select few a selfly a set at maw a set of organs a set purpose a settled matter a settled thing a severe loser a shade better a shag on a rock a shake of the hand a shame a shame betide ! a shame betide etc! a shame betide take! a share of the action a sharp

pureadj.adv.n.

Compounds

purev.

Derivatives