Cleanse \Cleanse\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Cleansed; p. pr. & vb. n. Cleansing.]

[AS. cl[=ae]nsian, fr. cl[=ae]ne clean. See Clean.]

To render clean; to free from fith, pollution, infection, guilt, etc.; to clean.

If we walk in the light . . . the blood of Jesus Christ his son cleanseth us from all sin. --1 John i. 7.

Can'st thou not minister to a mind diseased, And with some sweet oblivious antidote Cleanse the suffed bosom of that perilous stuff Which weighs upon the heart? --Shak.

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)