Bible Lexicons

περίψημα, περιψηματος, τό (from περιψάω 'to wipe off all round'; and this from περί (which see III. 1), and ψάω 'to wipe,' 'rub'), properly, what is wiped off; dirt rubbed off'; offscouring, scrapings: 1 Corinthians 4:13, used in the same sense as περικάθαρμα, which see Suidas and other Greek lexicographers under the word relate that the Athenians, in order to avert public calamities, yearly threw a criminal into the sea as an offering to Poseidon; hence, ἀργύριον ... περίψημα τοῦ παιδίου ἡμῶν γένοιτο (as if to say) let it become an expiatory offering, a ransom, for our child, i. e. in comparison with the saving of our son's life let it be to us a despicable and worthless thing, Tobit 5:18 (where see Fritzsche; (cf. also Müller on the Epistle of Barnabas 4, 9 [ET])). It is used of a man who in behalf of religion undergoes dire trials for the salvation of others, Ignatius ad Eph. 8, 1 [ET]; 18, 1 [ET]; (see Lightfoot's note on the former passage).