noun.
Anything that aids in scouring or cleansing, as soap or fuller's earth.
noun.
In medicine, a lotion or other application for cleansing a sore: in this sense nearly superseded by detergent.
the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English
noun.
A substance used in cleansing; a detergent.
adjective.
Serving to cleanse, detergent.
Word Usage
"The attitude that words may be discarded -- indeed, that words have caducity at all -- is not salubriously abstergent, but reflects an agrestic nisus that all cultivated English speakers must eschew."