a religious act, by which satisfaction or atonement is made for the commission of some crime; the guilt done away, and the obligation to punishment cancelled.

Expiations amongst the heathens were of several kinds, as sacrifices and religious washings. They were used for effacing a crime, or averting any calamity, and on numberless other occasions, as purifying towns, temples, and sacred places, and armies before and after battle; and they were performed in behalf of whole cities, as well as of particular persons.

The method of expiation amongst the Jews was chiefly by sacrifice, whether for sins of ignorance, or in order to purify themselves from certain pollutions.

Feast of EXPIATION, amongst the Jews, called by our translators the Day of Atonement, was held on the tenth day of Tisri, or the seventh month of the Jewish year, answering to part of our September and October. On that day the high-priest entered into the holy place, confessed his sins, and, after several ceremonies, made an atonement for all the people, in order to cleanse them from their sins.