perish

English

Etymology

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.

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): /ˈpɛɹɪʃ/
  • Audio (US)(file)
  • Rhymes: -ɛɹɪʃ
  • Homophone: parish (some accents)
  • Hyphenation: per‧ish

Verb

perish (third-person singular simple present perishes, present participle perishing, simple past and past participle perished)

  1. (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.
  2. (intransitive) To decay in such a way that it cannot 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.
  3. (intransitive) To die; to cease to live.
    Synonyms: decease, pass away; see also Thesaurus:die
  4. (transitive, obsolete) To cause to perish.
    • 1625, Francis [Bacon], “Of Friendship”, in The Essayes […], 3rd edition, London: […] Iohn Haviland for Hanna Barret, OCLC 863521290:
      that closeness did impair and a little perish his understanding
    • 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,...

Derived terms

Translations
to die, to pass away — See also translations at die
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked

Further reading
  • perish in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
  • perish in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911

Anagrams
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