ablution
Other forms: ablutions
An ablution is a washing or a cleaning of oneself, for personal hygiene, or a ritual washing or cleaning associated with religious observance.
The word ablution comes from the Latin abluere, meaning "to wash away." Back in the Middle Ages this term referred to the use of liquids for purification in chemistry; it later took on religious meaning. All the major religions have some rituals of purification. Examples include the washing of the hands or feet, and the cleansing of sacred containers or other objects.
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the ritual washing of a priest's hands or of sacred vessels
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Vocabulary lists containing ablution
Pip's life is changed when an anonymous benefactor pays for an expensive education in London, but he quickly discovers that you can't escape who you really are.
Conscripted by the army at the age of 13, Ishmael Beah was forced to fight in Sierra Leone's brutal civil war. In this memoir, Beah shines a light on the experiences of child soldiers.
In this translation from German by Hilda Rosner, a young man named Siddhartha, not entirely satisfied with the religious ways of his Brahmin family and Gotama the Buddha, decides to seek his own path to spiritual enlightenment.