Exorcisen

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. Archaic verb meaning to expel an evil spirit from a person or place through solemn prayer and ritual command
2. To cast out a demon or malevolent spirit by adjuring it with sacred words and rites, as in older religious usage
3. Used in Middle English for the act of banishing a spirit from a possessed body through formal religious invocation

Etymology: This is a Middle English spelling of "exorcise," the verb for driving out a spirit by solemn adjuration. It came into English through Old French "exorciser," from Late Latin "exorcizare," which goes back to Greek "exorkizein." That Greek verb originally meant to bind someone by an oath, from "horkos," meaning oath, so the sense of expelling spirits grew out of the formal oaths and commands used to bind them.