Mortify
Pronunciation
- UK IPA: /ˈmÉ”Ëtɪfaɪ/
- US IPA: /ˈmɔɹtɪfaɪ/
Origin
From Anglo-Norman mortifier, Middle French mortifier, from Late Latin mortificÅ ("cause death"), from Latin mors ("death") + -ficÅ ("-fy").
Full definition of mortify
Verb
- (obsolete, transitive) To kill. 14th–17th c.
- (obsolete) To reduce the potency of; to nullify; to deaden, neutralize. 14th–18th c.
- Francis BaconQuicksilver is mortified with turpentine.
- HakewillHe mortified pearls in vinegar.
- (obsolete, transitive) To kill off (living tissue etc.); to make necrotic. 15th–18th c.
- 1603, John Florio, translating Michel de Montaigne, Essays, II.3:Servius the Grammarian being troubled with the gowt, found no better meanes to be rid of it, than to apply poison to mortifie his legs.
- To discipline (one's body, appetites etc.) by suppressing desires; to practise abstinence on. from 15th c.Some people seek sainthood by mortifying the body.
- HarteWith fasting mortified, worn out with tears.
- PriorMortify thy learned lust.
- Bible, Col. iii. 5Mortify, therefore, your members which are upon the earth.
- (usually used passively) To embarrass, to humiliate. from 17th c.I was so mortified I could have died right there, instead I fainted, but I swore I'd never let that happen to me again.
- 1898, Winston Churchill, The Celebrity Chapter 5, Then we relapsed into a discomfited silence, and wished we were anywhere else. But Miss Thorn relieved the situation by laughing aloud, and with such a hearty enjoyment that instead of getting angry and more mortified we began to laugh ourselves, and instantly felt better.
- (obsolete) To affect with vexation, chagrin, or humiliation; to humble; to depress.
- Evelynthe news of the fatal battle of Worcester, which exceedingly mortified our expectations
- AddisonHow often is the ambitious man mortified with the very praises he receives, if they do not rise so high as he thinks they ought!
- (Scotland, legal, historical) To grant in mortmain
- 1876 James Grant, History of the Burgh and Parish Schools of Scotland, Part II, Chapter 14, p. 453 (PDF 2.7 MB):
- the schoolmasters of Ayr were paid out of the mills mortified by Queen Mary