Entry 2 senses · 2 variants Webster, 1913

Perish

/pĕr'-ĭsh/ · Per·ish · IPA /ˈpɛɹ.ɪʃ/

01 v. i. To be destroyed; to pass away; to become nothing; to be lost; to die; hence, to wither; to waste away.

imp. & p. p. Perished; p. pr. & vb. n. Perishing

1.
To be destroyed; to pass away; to become nothing; to be lost; to die; hence, to wither; to waste away.
“I perish with hunger!” — Luke xv. 17.

“Grow up and perish, as the summer fly.” — Milton.

“The thoughts of a soul that perish in thinking.” — Locke.

02 v. t. To cause perish.

1.
To cause perish.[Obs.]

Phrases & compounds

perish the thought — I hope it will never happen; -- a phrase used after mention of a possible undesirable event, sometimes facetiously.