[pure] adj pur.er ; pur.est [ME pur, fr. OF, fr. L purus; akin to OHG fowen to sift, Skt punati he cleanses, MIr ur fresh, new] (14c) 1 a (1): unmixed with any other matter "~ gold" (2): free from dust, dirt, or taint "~ food" (3): spotless, stainless b: free from harshness or roughness and being in tune--used of a musical tone c of a vowel: characterized by no appreciable alteration of articulation during utterance
2. a: being thus and no other: sheer, unmitigated "~ folly" b (1): abstract, theoretical (2): a priori "~ mechanics" c: not directed toward exposition of reality or solution of practical problems "~ literature" d: being nonobjective and to be appraised on formal and technical qualities only "~ form" 3 a (1): free from what vitiates, weakens, or pollutes (2): containing nothing that does not properly belong b: free from moral fault or guilt c: marked by chastity: continent d (1): of pure blood and unmixed ancestry (2): homozygous in and breeding true for one or more characters e: ritually clean syn see chaste -- pure.ness n