mortify
English
Etymology
From Anglo-Norman mortifier, Middle French mortifier, from Late Latin mortificō (“cause death”), from Latin mors (“death”) + -ficō (“-fy”).
Pronunciation
- (UK) IPA(key): /ˈmɔːtɪfaɪ/
- (US) IPA(key): /ˈmɔɹtɪfaɪ/
Audio (UK) (file)
Verb
mortify (third-person singular simple present mortifies, present participle mortifying, simple past and past participle mortified)
- (transitive) To discipline (one's body, appetites etc.) by suppressing desires; to practise abstinence on. [from 15th c.]
- Some people seek sainthood by mortifying the body.
- 1767, Walter Harte, Eulogius: Or, The Charitable Mason
- With fasting mortify'd, worn out with tears.
- 1688, Matthew Prior, An Ode
- Mortify thy learned lust.
- 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], OCLC 964384981, Colossians 3:5:
- Mortify, therefore, your members which are upon the earth.
- (transitive, usually used passively) To embarrass, to humiliate. To injure one's dignity. [from 17th c.]
- 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.
- 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter V, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., OCLC 222716698:
- Then we relapsed into a discomfited silence, and wished we were anywhere else. But Miss Thorn relieved the situation by laughing aloud, and with such a hearty enjoyment that instead of getting angry and more mortified we began to laugh ourselves, and instantly felt better.
- (obsolete, transitive) To kill. [14th–17th c.]
- (obsolete, transitive) To reduce the potency of; to nullify; to deaden, neutralize. [14th–18th c.]
- 1631, Francis [Bacon], “(please specify |century=I to X)”, in Sylua Syluarum: Or A Naturall Historie. In Ten Centuries. […], 3rd edition, London: […] William Rawley; [p]rinted by J[ohn] H[aviland] for William Lee […], OCLC 1044372886:
- Quicksilver is mortified with turpentine.
- 1627, G[eorge] H[akewill], An Apologie of the Povver and Prouidence of God in the Gouernment of the VVorld. […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] Iohn Lichfield and VVilliam Turner, […], OCLC 863459859:
- He […] mortified them [pearls] in vineger aud drunke them vp
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- (obsolete, transitive) To kill off (living tissue etc.); to make necrotic. [15th–18th c.]
- 1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 3, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book II, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], OCLC 946730821:
- 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.
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- (obsolete, transitive) To affect with vexation, chagrin, or humiliation; to humble; to depress.
- 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
- 1712 January 4 (Gregorian calendar), Joseph Addison; Richard Steele [et al.], “MONDAY, December 24, 1711”, in The Spectator, number 257; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New Edition, […], volume III, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton & Company, 1853, OCLC 191120697:
- 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!
- 22 September 1651 (date in diary), 1818 (first published), John Evelyn, John Evelyn's Diary
- (transitive, Scotland, law, historical) To grant in mortmain.
- 1876 James Grant, History of the Burgh and Parish Schools of Scotland, Part II, Chapter 14, p.453 (PDF 2.7 MB):
- the schoolmasters of Ayr were paid out of the mills mortified by Queen Mary
- 1876 James Grant, History of the Burgh and Parish Schools of Scotland, Part II, Chapter 14, p.453 (PDF 2.7 MB):
- (intransitive) To lose vitality.
- (intransitive) To gangrene.
- (intransitive) To be subdued.
Synonyms
- (to discipline oneself by suppressing desires): macerate
- (to injure one's dignity): demean, humiliate, shame
Antonyms
- (to injure one's dignity): dignify, honor
Related terms
- mortification
Translations
to discipline by suppressing desires
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to injure one's dignity
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to kill
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