ablution
n.the act of washing your body, especially for religious reasons or to clean something very dirty. It can also mean the process of washing away something bad, like a crime.
n.the act of washing the body, typically for religious purification or as a ritual. In a figurative sense, it refers to the removal of guilt or the cleansing of a surface from a contaminant.
“The soldier performed his daily ablution before the morning meal.”
“The priest performed the ablution at the altar to prepare for the ceremony.”
“The chemical process of ablution was necessary to remove the toxic residue from the laboratory equipment before the next experiment could begin.”
From Middle English ablucioun (“cleansing of impurities”), from Old French ablution, and its source, Late Latin ablūtiō (“a washing away”), from abluō (“wash away”), from ab- (“away”) + lavō (“wash”).
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.