Emily Dickinson Lexicon

PURE, a. [L. purus; It. and Sp. puro; Fr. pur; W. pûr; Sax. pur; Heb. בר. The verb ברר signifies to separate, free, clear; a sense taken from driving off. The word varied in orthography, occurs in Ch. Syr. and Ar. See ברא in the Introduction. Class Br, No. 7, and 6, 8, 9, 10.]

1. Separate from all heterogeneous or extraneous matter; clear; free from mixture; as, pure water; pure clay; pure sand; pure air; pure silver or gold. Pure wine is very scarce.
2. Free from moral defilement; without spot; not sullied or tarnished; incorrupt; undebased by moral turpitude; holy. Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil. – Hab. i. Prov. xx.
3. Genuine; real; true; incorrupt; unadulterated; as, pure religion. James i.
4. Unmixed; separate from any other subject or from every thing foreign; as, pure mathematics.
5. Free from guilt; guiltless; innocent. No hand of strife is pure, but that which wins. – Daniel.
6. Not vitiated with improper or corrupt words or phrases; as, a pure style of discourse or composition.
7. Disinterested; as, pure benevolence.
8. Chaste; as, a pure virgin.
9. Free from vice or moral turpitude. – Tit. i.
10. Ceremonially clean; unpolluted. – Ezra vi.
11. Free from any thing improper; as, his motives are pure.
12. Mere; absolute; that and that only; unconnected with any thing else; as, a pure villain. He did that from pure compassion, or pure good nature.