• Perish

    Pronunciation

    • IPA: /ˈpɛɹɪʃ/
    • Homophones: parish some accents
    • Hyphenation: per + ish

    Origin

    From Middle English perishen, 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.

    Full definition of perish

    Verb

    1. (intransitive) To pass away; to come to naught; to waste away; to decay and disappear.
    2. (intransitive) To die; to cease to live.
      • 1719, Daniel Defoe, ...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.
    3. (transitive, obsolete) To cause to perish.

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