mortify

verb

/ˈmɔːtɪfaɪ/UK/ˈmoɹtɪfaɪ/US

Etymology

From Anglo-Norman mortifier, Middle French mortifier, from Late Latin mortificō (“cause death”), from Latin mors (“death”) + -ficō (“-fy”).

derived from mortificō — “cause death”
derived from mortifier
derived from mortifier

Definitions

1
To discipline (one's body, appetites etc.) by suppressing desires
To discipline (one's body, appetites etc.) by suppressing desires; to practise abstinence on.
- Some people seek sainthood by mortifying the body.
- With fasting mortify'd, worn out with tears.
- Mortify thy learned lust.
2
To injure the dignity of
To injure the dignity of; to embarrass; to humiliate.
- 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.
To kill.
›+ 9 more definitionsshow fewer
1. 4
  To reduce the potency of
  To reduce the potency of; to nullify; to deaden, neutralize.
  - Soothly, the gode werkes, that he dide biforn that he fil in sinne, been al mortified and astoned and dulled by the ofte sinning.
  - Quicksilver is mortified with turpentine.
  - He […]mortified them [pearls] in vineger aud drunke them vp
2. 5
  To affect with vexation or chagrin.
  - He seemed to enjoy mortifying them with news of every fresh hell loosed in the capital.
  - 22 September 1651 (date in diary), 1818 (first published), John Evelyn, John Evelyn's Diary the news of the fatal battle of Worcester, which exceedingly mortified our expectations
  - How often is [the ambitious man] mortified with the very praises he receives, if they do not rise so high as he thinks they ought!
3. 6
  To scare.
  - Near-synonym: petrify
  - Please don't mortify your mother by telling her what a stupidly dangerous thing you did last night.
4. To humble
  To humble; to depress.
5. 8
  To grant in mortmain.
  - the schoolmasters of Ayr were paid out of the mills mortified by Queen Mary
6. 9
  To lose vitality.
  - [...] Tis a pure ill-natur'd ſatisfaction to ſee one that was a beauty unfortunately move with the ſame languor, and ſoftneſs of behaviour, that once was charming in her—To ſee, I ſay, her mortify that us'd to kill [...]
7. 10
  To kill off (living tissue etc.)
  To kill off (living tissue etc.); to make necrotic.
  - Servius the Grammarian being troubled with the gowt, found no better meanes to be rid of it, than to apply poison to mortifie [translating tuer] his legs.
8. To gangrene.
9. To be subdued.

The neighborhood

neighbormortification

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for mortify. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA