" To ABSTERSE  (ABSTE'RSE)   [See ABSTERGE.]To cleanse, to purify; a word very little in use, and less analogical than absterge. Nor will we affirm, that iron receiveth, in the stomach of the ostrich, no alteration; but we suspect this effect rather from corrosion than digestion; not any tendence to chilification by the natural heat, but rather some attrition from an acid and vitriolous humidity in the stomach, which may absterse and shave the scorious parts thereof.Brown’sVulgar Errours,b. iii. "

― Samuel Johnson , A Dictionary of the English Language (Complete and Unabridged in Two Volumes), Volume One