crucify Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. verb kill by nailing onto a cross
    • Jesus Christ was crucified
  2. verb treat cruelly
    bedevil; rag; dun; frustrate; torment.
    • The children tormented the stuttering teacher
  3. verb hold within limits and control
    subdue; mortify.
    • subdue one's appetites
    • mortify the flesh
  4. verb criticize harshly or violently
    savage; blast; pillory.
    • The press savaged the new President
    • The critics crucified the author for plagiarizing a famous passage

WordNet

Cru"ci*fy transitive verb
Etymology
F. crucifier, fr. (assumed) LL. crucificare, for crucifigere, fr, L. crux, crucis, cross + figere to fix, the ending -figere being changed to -ficare, F. -fier (in compounds), as if fr. L. facere to do, make. See Cross, and Fix, and cf. Crucifix.
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Crucified present participle & verbal noun Crucifying
Definitions
  1. To fasten to a cross; to put to death by nailing the hands and feet to a cross or gibbet.
    They cried, saying, Crucify him, cricify him. Luke xxiii. 21.
  2. To destroy the power or ruling influence of; to subdue completely; to mortify.
    They that are Christ's have crucified the flesh, with the affections and lusts. Gal. v. 24.
  3. To vex or torment. Beau. & FL.

Webster 1913