pure

From Middle English pure, pur, from Old French pur, from Latin pūrus (“clean, free from dirt or filth, unmixed, plain”), from Proto-Indo-European *pew-, *pu- (“to cleanse, purify”). Displaced native Middle English lutter (“pure, clear, sincere”) (from Old English hlūtor, hluttor), Middle English skere (“pure, sheer, clear”) (from Old English scǣre and Old Norse skǣr), Middle English schir (“clear, pure”) (from Old English scīr), Middle English smete, smeate (“pure, refined”) (from Old English smǣte; compare Old English mǣre (“pure”)).

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈpjʊə/, /ˈpjɔː/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈpjʊɹ/, /ˈpjɔɹ/
• (cure-fir merger, rhotic) IPA^(key): /ˈpjɝ/
• (cure-fir merger, non-rhotic) IPA^(key): /ˈpjɜː/
• (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʊə(r), -ɔː(ɹ)

pure (comparative purer or more pure, superlative purest or most pure)

1. Free of flaws or imperfections; unsullied.
   • (Can we date this quote?) Thomas Macaulay

     Such was the origin of a friendship as warm and pure as any that ancient or modern history records.

2. Free of foreign material or pollutants.
   • (Can we date this quote?) Isaac Watts

     A guinea is pure gold if it has in it no alloy.

3. Free of immoral behavior or qualities; clean.
   • Bible, 1 Timothy v. 22

     Keep thyself pure.

4. Mere; that and that only.

   That idea is pure madness!

5. (of a branch of science) Done for its own sake instead of serving another branch of science.
   • 2014 June 21, “Magician’s brain”, in The Economist, volume 411, number 8892:

     The [Isaac] Newton that emerges from the [unpublished] manuscripts is far from the popular image of a rational practitioner of cold and pure reason. The architect of modern science was himself not very modern. He was obsessed with alchemy.

6. (phonetics) Of a single, simple sound or tone; said of some vowels and the unaspirated consonants.
7. (of sound) Without harmonics or overtones; not harsh or discordant.

• (free of flaws): see Thesaurus:pure
• (free of foreign material): see Thesaurus:raw
• (free of immoral behavior): innocent

• (free of flaws): dirty, flawed, impure
• (free of foreign material): contaminated, impure
• (free of immoral behavior): corrupt, guilty, sinful
• (done for its own sake): applied

• pure finder
• as pure as the driven snow

• purification
• purify
• purity
• puritan
• puritanism
• purist
• purism

pure (not comparable)

1. (Liverpudlian) to a great extent or degree; extremely; exceedingly.

   You’re pure busy.

   • 1996, Trainspotting (film)

     I just get pure shy with the interview cats.

pure (countable and uncountable, plural pures)

1. (obsolete, colloquial, euphemistic, sometimes pluralized) Feces, especially dog feces gathered in pre-20th-century England for use in the tanning of leather.
   • 2001, Wendy Lawton, The Tinker's Daughter, ch. 8:

     Mary smelled the rancid odor of the tannery on the right side of the road. […]

     "What is that, Mary?" Jake asked.

     "'Tis a bag for collecting pure. That is going to be your job, Jake. You are to collect pure."

     "Pure? What is pure?"

     "Pure is another word for dung," Mary answered.

pure (third-person singular simple present pures, present participle puring, simple past and past participle pured)

1. (golf) to hit (the ball) completely cleanly and accurately

   Tiger Woods pured his first drive straight down the middle of the fairway.

2. (transitive, obsolete) To cleanse; to refine.

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /pjʊə/
• Rhymes: -ʊə(r)
• (US) IPA^(key): /pjʊɚ/

pure (uncountable)

1. Alternative form of puer
   • 1851, H. Mayhew, London Labour and the London poor, vII. 142/1:

     […] Dogs'-dung is called ‘Pure’, from its cleansing and purifying properties.

   • 1842, The Penny Magazine, May 212/1:

     […] A solution called the ‘pure’ or the 'pewer' (having never seen the word written.., we must spell it as pronounced) is prepared in a large vessel, and into this the skins are immersed.

• pure in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• pure in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

• Peru, Pre-U, Prue, Pu'er, Rupe, pu'er, puer, re-up, reup

From Latin pūre, the adverb of pūrus (“clean, pure”); or the definite form of pur (“pure”).

• IPA^(key): /puːrə/, [ˈpʰuːɐ̯]

pure

1. complete
2. (adverbial) completely

From French purée (“puree”).

• puré

• IPA^(key): /pyre/, [pʰyˈʁæ]

pure c (singular definite pureen, plural indefinite pureer)

1. puree

See the etymology of the main entry.

• IPA^(key): /puːrə/, [ˈpʰuːɐ̯]

pure

1. definite of pur
2. plural of pur

pure

1. purely

pure

1. inflection of purra:
   1. indicative present connegative
   2. second-person singular imperative present/present connegative

• Peru, peru

• Rhymes: -yʁ

pure

1. feminine singular of pur

• peur
• puer
• repu
• rupe, rupé

pure

1. inflection of pur:
   1. strong/mixed nominative/accusative feminine singular
   2. strong nominative/accusative plural
   3. weak nominative all-gender singular
   4. weak accusative feminine/neuter singular

• Rhymes: -ure

pure

1. feminine plural of puro

From Latin pūrē, the adverb of pūrus.[1]

pure

1. too, also, as well

   Synonym: anche

2. well, surely
3. please, by all means
4. if you like; if you want (etc.)

   Parli pure (with third-person subjunctive) ― let him speak if he likes

   Parla pure (with imperative) ― Speak if you like

   Lei parli pure (with formal subjunctive-imperative) ― Speak if you like

pure

1. even though, even if, although
2. nevertheless

• Perù
• prue
• rupe

From pūrus (“clean; pure”) and -e (“-ly, -ily”).

pūrē (comparative pūrius, superlative pūrissimē)

1. clearly, brightly, cleanly
2. correctly, faultlessly, perfectly, purely ^syn.

   Loqui pure.

   To speak correctly.

• (correctly ^def.): ēmendātē

pūre

1. ablative singular of pūs

• pure in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• pure in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• Carl Meissner; Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎, London: Macmillan and Co.
  • (ambiguous) logic, dialectic: dialectica (-ae or -orum) (pure Latin disserendi ratio et scientia)
    
  • (ambiguous) astronomy: astrologia (pure Latin sidera, caelestia)
    

• pur, puyr, pore, poure, peure, puȝr, puir, puire, puyre

From Old French pur, from Latin pūrus.

• IPA^(key): /piu̯r/

pure (comparative purer, superlative purest)

1. pure, unadulterated, undiluted, untarnished
2. entire, total, all
3. perfect, wonderful, unflawed
4. morally clean, pure, or upstanding
5. chaste
6. true, real, genuine, not counterfeit
7. clear, obvious, simple

• Scots: puir, pure
• English: pure
• → Cornish: pur

• “pūr(e (adj.)” in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-04-02.

From Proto-Polynesian *pule.

pure

1. cowrie

pure

1. absolute definite natural masculine form of pur.