perishing


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Related to perishing: Pershing

per·ish

(pĕr′ĭsh)
v. per·ished, per·ish·ing, per·ish·es
v.intr.
1. To die or be destroyed, especially in a violent or untimely manner: "Must then a Christ perish in torment in every age to save those who have no imagination?" (George Bernard Shaw).
2. To pass from existence; disappear gradually: "Man will go down into the pit, and all his thoughts will perish" (A.J. Balfour).
3. Chiefly British To spoil or deteriorate.
v.tr.
To bring to destruction; destroy: "Many foul blights / Perish'd his hard won gains" (Thomas Hood).
Idiom:
perish the thought
Used to express the wish that one not even think about something.
[Middle English perishen, from Old French perir, periss-, to perish, from Latin perīre : per-, per- + īre, to go; see ei- in Indo-European roots.]
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

perishing

(ˈpɛrɪʃɪŋ)
adj
1. informal (of weather, etc) extremely cold
2. slang (intensifier qualifying something undesirable): it's a perishing nuisance!.
ˈperishingly adv
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014
Translations

perishing

[ˈperɪʃɪŋ] ADJ
1. (= freezing) it's perishing (cold) → hace un frío de muerte, hace un frío que pela
I'm perishing → estoy helado
2. (Brit) → condenado
Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

perishing

[ˈpɛrɪʃɪŋ] adj (British)
(cold) → glacial(e)
it's perishing, it's perishing cold → il fait un froid glacial
(= confounded) → maudit(e) before n
that perishing child → ce maudit gamin
Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

perishing

adj (Brit inf)
(= very cold) room, weather → eisig kalt ; I’m perishing → ich geh fast ein vor Kälte (inf)
(= objectionable) → verdammt (inf)
Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

perishing

[ˈpɛrɪʃɪŋ] adj (Brit) (fam) it's perishing (cold) → fa un freddo da morire
Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995
References in classic literature ?
I stood out against it with all my might, was rather for scuttling the boat and perishing together among the sharks that followed us; but when Helmar said that if his proposal was accepted we should have drink, the sailor came round to him.
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The French invaders, like an infuriated animal that has in its onslaught received a mortal wound, felt that they were perishing, but could not stop, any more than the Russian army, weaker by one half, could help swerving.
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A new will teach I unto men: to choose that path which man hath followed blindly, and to approve of it--and no longer to slink aside from it, like the sick and perishing!
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Now, had Tashtego perished in that head, it had been a very precious perishing; smothered in the very whitest and daintiest of fragrant spermaceti; coffined, hearsed, and tombed in the secret inner chamber and sanctum sanctorum of the whale.
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