Definitions for ablutionəˈblu ʃən

This page provides all possible meanings and translations of the word ablution

Princeton's WordNet

  1. ablution(noun)

    the ritual washing of a priest's hands or of sacred vessels


  1. ablution(Noun)

    Originally, the purifying of oils and other substances by emulsification with hot water; now more generally, a thorough cleansing of a precipitate or other non-dissolved substance.

  2. ablution(Noun)

    The act of washing or cleansing the body, or some part of it, as a religious rite.

  3. ablution(Noun)

    The rinsing of the priest's hand following the Communion with, depending on rite, water or a mix of it and wine, which may then be drunk by the priest.

  4. ablution(Noun)

    Washing oneself; bathing, cleaning oneself up.

  5. ablution(Noun)

    The liquid used in cleansing.

  6. ablution(Noun)

    The ritual consumption by the deacon or priest of leftover sacred wine of host after the Communion.

  7. Origin: * First attested in 1395.

Webster Dictionary

  1. Ablution(noun)


  2. Ablution(noun)

    the water used in cleansing

  3. Ablution(noun)


  4. Origin: [L. ablutio, fr. abluere: cf. F. ablution. See Abluent.]


  1. Ablution in Christianity

    Ablution, in religion, is a prescribed washing of part or all of the body or of possessions, such as clothing or ceremonial objects, with the intent of purification or dedication. In Christianity, both baptism and footwashing are forms of ablution. In liturgical churches, ablution can refer to purifying fingers or vessels related to the Eucharist. In the NT washing also occurs in reference to rites of Judaism part of the action of a healing by Jesus, the preparation of a body for burial, the washing of nets by fishermen, a person's personal washing of the face to appear in public, the cleansing of an injured person's wounds, Pilate's washing of his hands as a symbolic claim of innocence and foot washing, now partly a symbolic rite within the Church. According to the Gospel of Matthew, Pontius Pilate declared himself innocent of the blood of Jesus by washing his hands. This act of Pilate may not, however, have been borrowed from the custom of the Jews. The same practice was common among the Greeks and Romans. According to Christian tradition, the Pharisees carried the practice of ablution to great excess.

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