perish
EnglishEdit
EtymologyEdit
From Middle English perishen, borrowed from Old French periss-, stem of certain parts of perir, from Latin perīre (“to pass away, perish”), present active infinitive of pereō, from per (“through”) + eō (“to go”); see iter.
PronunciationEdit
VerbEdit
perish (third-person singular simple present perishes, present participle perishing, simple past and past participle perished)
- (intransitive) To decay and disappear; to waste away to nothing.
- 1881, Tarafa, translated by W. A. Clouston, The Poem of Tarafa
- I consider time as a treasure decreasing every night; and that which every day diminishes soon perishes for ever.
- 1881, Tarafa, translated by W. A. Clouston, The Poem of Tarafa
- (intransitive) To decay in such a way that it can't be used for its original purpose
- 2015, Christopher Cumo, Foods that Changed History
- The difficulty is that fresh foods perish due to the multiplication in them of harmful bacteria.
- 2015, Christopher Cumo, Foods that Changed History
- (intransitive) To die; to cease to live.
- 1719, Daniel Defoe, Robinson Crusoe
- ...the ship struck upon a sand, and ... the sea broke over her in such a manner that we expected we should all have perished immediately; and we were immediately driven into our close quarters, to shelter us from the very foam and spray of the sea.
- 1719, Daniel Defoe, Robinson Crusoe
- (transitive, obsolete) To cause to perish.
- (Can we find and add a quotation of Francis Bacon to this entry?)
- 1898, William Pett Ridge, By Order of the Magistrate, page 209:
- "Leggo my shou'der, I tell you! Leggo!" He struggled with her, and the customers came forward. "Chrise! I'll perish you, if you ain't careful!" He turned suddenly,...
SynonymsEdit
- decease, pass away
- See also Thesaurus:die
Derived termsEdit
Related termsEdit
TranslationsEdit
to decay and disappear; to waste away to nothing
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to die, to pass away — See also translations at die
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked
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Further readingEdit
- perish in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
- perish in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911.