Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Perish
Per′ish
,Verb.
I.
[
imp. & p. p.
Perished
; p. pr. & vb. n.
Perishing
.] [OE.
perissen
, perisshen
, F. périr
, p. pr. périssant
, L. perire
to go or run through, come to nothing, perish; per
through + ire
to go. Cf. Issue
, and see -ish
.] To be destroyed; to pass away; to become nothing; to be lost; to die; hence, to wither; to waste away.
I
perish
with hunger! Luke xv. 17.
Grow up and
perish
, as the summer fly. Milton.
The thoughts of a soul that
perish
in thinking. Locke.
Per′ish
,Verb.
T.
To cause perish.
[Obs.]
Bacon.
Webster 1828 Edition
Perish
PER'ISH
, v.i.[L. pereo, supposed to be compounded of per and eo, to go; literally, to depart wholly.]1.
To die; to lose life in any manner; applied to animals. Men perish by disease or decay, by the sword, by drowning, by hunger or famine, &c.2.
To die; to wither and decay; applied to plants.3.
To waste away; as, a leg or an arm has perished.4.
To be in a state of decay or passing away. Duration, and time which is part of it, is the idea we have of perishing distance.
5.
To be destroyed; to come to nothing. Perish the lore that deadens young desire.
6.
To fail entirely or to be extirpated. 2 Kings.9.7.
To be burst or ruined; as, the bottles shall perish. Luke 5.
8.
To be wasted or rendered useless. Jer.9.9.
To be injured or tormented. 1 Cor.8. 10. To be lost eternally; to be sentenced to endless misery. 2 Pet.2.
PER'ISH
,Verb.
T.
Definition 2024
perish
perish
English
Verb
perish (third-person singular simple present perishes, present participle perishing, simple past and past participle perished)
- (intransitive) To pass away; to come to naught; to waste away; to decay and disappear.
- (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?)
Synonyms
Derived terms
Related terms
Translations
pass away
die
External links
- perish in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
- perish in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911