" ADULTERATION  (ADULTERA'TION)   n.s.[from adulterate.]1. The act of adulterating or corrupting by foreign mixture; contamination. To make the compound pass for the rich metal simple, is an adulteration, or counterfeiting: but if it be done avowedly, and without disguising, it may be a great saving of the richer metal.Bacon’sNatural History,No 798.2. The state of being adulterated, or contaminated. "

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