exorcise

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ex·or·cise / ˈeksôrˌsīz; ˈeksər-/ (also ex·or·cize) • v. [tr.] drive out or attempt to drive out (an evil spirit) from a person or place: an attempt to exorcise an unquiet spirit. ∎  (often be exorcised) rid (a person or place) of an evil spirit: infants were exorcised prior to baptism.ORIGIN: late Middle English: from French exorciser or ecclesiastical Latin exorcizare, from Greek exorkizein, from ex- ‘out’ + horkos ‘oath.’ The word originally meant ‘conjure up or command (an evil spirit)’; the specific sense of driving out an evil spirit dates from the mid 16th cent.

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