From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishperishper‧ish /ˈperɪʃ/ verb 1 [intransitive] formal or literaryMXDIE to die, especially in a terrible or sudden way Hundreds perished when the ship went down.► see thesaurus at die2 [intransitive, transitive] especially British EnglishDAMAGE if rubber or leather perishes, it decays3 → perish the thought!→ See Verb table
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” 