I.to cleanse from dregs; to refine, purify, defecate, clarify (ante-class. and post-Aug.).
B. In gen., to cleanse, purify, wash: “se,” Plaut. Most. 1, 3, 2: “membra,” Prud. Cath. 7, 74: “aërem,” Veg. Vet. 1, 20, 3. —
II. Trop., to purify; to make clear, serene; to set at ease: “quicquid incerti mi in animo prius aut ambiguum fuit, nunc liquet, nunc defaecatum est,” Plaut. Ps. 2, 4, 70: “animus purgatus defaecatusque,” Macr. Somn. Scip. 1, 8: “mens,” id. ib. 2, 12: “literae defaecandae,” Sid. Ep. 1, 1: “caro ab omni defaecata labe vitiorum,” Ambros. in Luc. 7, 141 fin.: “nunc defaecato demum animo egredior domo,” undisturbed, serene, Plaut. Aul. 1, 2, 1.—P. a.: dēfaecātus , a, um. —Comp.: “caelum defaecatius ab omni labe,” Ambros. in Psa. 118; Serm. 8; “vindemiae,” refined, Vulg. Isa. 25, 6.
