perish

Word family

Related topics: Death

per·ish /ˈperɪʃ/ verb

1 [intransitiveI] formal or literaryMXDIE to die, especially in a terrible or sudden way 死亡〔尤指惨死或猝死〕

Hundreds perished when the ship went down.

轮船沉没，数百人罹难。

► see thesaurus at die

2. [intransitiveI, transitiveT] especially British EnglishBrEDAMAGE if rubber or leather perishes, it decays （使）〔橡胶或皮革〕腐坏，老化

3 perish the thought! spoken old-fashionedBAD used to say that you hope what someone has suggested will never happen 但愿…不会成真

If we lose, perish the thought, Watford will take first place.

如果我们输了，但愿这不会成为事实，沃特福德就会拿第一了。

Examples from the Corpus

perish• We must make sure that democracy does not perish.• But in 1691 the boy was reported to have fallen accidentally from a second-story window and perished.• Even so, 10,000-20,000 birds have perished.• Five children perished before firefighters could put out the blaze.• But by far the majority perish, before they are even hatched - or at least before they reach maturity and breed themselves.• Most domestic building was in wood and has perished, but some of the great mural fortresses survive.• He is believed to have perished fairly early in the prolonged series of guerrilla activities he inaugurated against Rome.• Sanchez perished in a mudslide in 1985.• Sandy Lee Gilmore perished in the early morning blaze at her terraced home on the Drumtara estate.• All of us would have perished of exposure and hunger had we not recaptured our ponies.• Everyone aboard the ship perished when it sank off the coast of Maine.

Origin perish

(1200-1300) Old French perir, from Latin perire “to be destroyed”

per·ish verb

Chinese

Syllable

Corpus