perish Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. verb pass from physical life and lose all bodily attributes and functions necessary to sustain life
    decease; give-up the ghost; pop off; die; buy the farm; snuff it; choke; drop dead; pass away; expire; exit; croak; pass; go; kick the bucket; conk; cash in one's chips.
    • She died from cancer
    • The children perished in the fire
    • The patient went peacefully
    • The old guy kicked the bucket at the age of 102

WordNet

Per"ish intransitive verb
Etymology
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.
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Perished ; present participle & verbal noun Perishing
Definitions
  1. 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 transitive verb
Definitions
  1. To cause perish. Obs. Bacon.

Webster 1913