purge1 verbpurge2 noun
purgepurge1 /pɜːdʒ $ pɜːrdʒ/ verb 
WORD ORIGINpurge1
Origin:
1200-1300 Old French purgier, from Latin purgare ‘to make pure’, from purus; ➔ PUREVERB TABLE
purge
| Simple Form | ||
| Present | I, you, we, they | purge |
| he, she, it | purges | |
| Past | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | purged |
| Present perfect | I, you, we, they | have purged |
| he, she, it | has purged | |
| Past perfect | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | had purged |
| Future | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | will purge |
| Future perfect | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | will have purged |
| Continuous Form | ||
| Present | I | am purging |
| he, she, it | is purging | |
| you, we, they | are purging | |
| Past | I, he, she, it | was purging |
| you, we, they | were purging | |
| Present perfect | I, you, we, they | have been purging |
| he, she, it | has been purging | |
| Past perfect | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | had been purging |
| Future | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | will be purging |
| Future perfect | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | will have been purging |
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER DICTIONARIES
- Employees leaving the government were encouraged to purge their computer files.
- In the North, Sung systematically purged those whom he considered a threat.
- Many radicals were purged from the party in the early seventies.
- Because I need to purge myself of the past more than anything.
- He had whipped his Machine into line, shelved the old competitors, purged the incorrigibles.
- It was as if Lucie's pride had been purged away by standing in that vat of swirling morning mist.
- Lately, with each round of corporate purging and bingeing, Marco has been feeling his time draw close.
- Modernism may well have been purged from public view, but to the determined specialist it was still covertly available.
- Mr van der Luyden looked about the room with what would have been self-satisfaction on features less purged of the vulgar passions.
- Under Americanism the country was to be purged of foreign political elements.
Longman Language Activatorto get rid of someone because you do not like or need them any more
· New police chief Brody promised to get rid of the city's drug dealers.· The company announced that it will get rid of another 500 workers by the end of the year.· One of the administration's first tasks will be to get rid of many of the officials appointed by the previous president.
if the leaders of a political organization purge a group of people from that organization, they get rid of them because they have political views that they strongly disagree with: · Many radicals were purged from the party in the early seventies.· In the North, Sung systematically purged those whom he considered a threat.
to find out those people who are not suitable to belong to an organization or group, and get rid of them: · We do have procedures in place to weed out individuals who are corrupt.· The report claimed that there were at least 20,000 inefficient teachers that needed to be weeded out.
to try hard to find out all the people who are not suitable to belong to a particular group or organization, especially when it is not easy to know who they are, and get rid of them: · The Ministry of Health is continuing its efforts to root out incompetent doctors.· At that time, a secret branch of the National Police was involved in rooting out dissidents.
also somebody has (got) to go American spoken say this when you no longer want to employ someone: · It's been decided. Murrow will have to go.· "Gates has done nothing but divide this city. He has got to go," said one of the protesters.
informal to end a relationship with a boyfriend or girlfriend: · I think the guy's a jerk. I'm glad Debbie dumped him.· "Why did he dump her?" "He met somebody else."
COLLOCATIONS FROM THE ENTRY
Anorexics may overeat before purging themselves or vomiting.
1[transitive] to force people to leave a place or organization because the people in power do not like thempurge something of somebody/something Anorexics may overeat before purging themselves or vomiting. He sought to purge the Democrat party of conservatives.purge somebody/something from something plans to purge ethnic minorities from rebel-controlled areas2[transitive] to remove something that is thought to be harmful or unacceptablepurge something of somebody/something an initiative to purge the PC market of software pirates Local languages were purged of Russian words.purge somebody/something from something It’s hard to imagine now that Lawrence’s novels were purged from public libraries.3[transitive] to destroy something that is no longer needed: The system automatically purges unread emails after two weeks.4[transitive] literary to remove bad feelingspurge somebody/something of something We have to begin by purging our minds of prejudice. Any doubts about his leadership were purged by the courage of his performance.5[transitive] to take a substance that makes your bowels empty: Anorexics may overeat before purging themselves or vomiting.6[intransitive] to force yourself to bring food up from your stomach and out of your mouth, especially because you have bulimiapurge1 verbpurge2 noun
purgepurge2 noun [countable] 1an action to remove your opponents or the people who disagree with you from an organization or a place: the Stalinist purgespurge of/on a purge of military commanders a purge on tax dodgers2a substance used to make you empty your bowels