mortify meaning: definition, etymology and quotations

mortify

verb

UK /ˈmɔːtɪfaɪ/ · US /ˈmoɹtɪfaɪ/

Etymology From Anglo-Norman mortifier, Middle French mortifier, from Late Latin mortificō (“cause death”), from Latin mors (“death”) + -ficō (“-fy”).

12 senses

To discipline (one's body, appetites etc.) by suppressing desires; to practise abstinence on.

Some people seek sainthood by mortifying the body.
With fasting mortify'd, worn out with tears.1767, Walter Harte, Eulogius: Or, The Charitable Mason:

2 more examples

Mortify thy learned lust.1688, Matthew Prior, An Ode:
Mortify, therefore, your members which are upon the earth.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Colossians 3:5:

Usually, Used passively To injure the dignity of; to embarrass; to humiliate.

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.
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.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:

Obsolete To kill.

The second Spring after transplanting, purge them of all superfluous shoots and scions, reserving only the most towardly for the future stem; this to be done yearly, as long as they continue in the nursery; and if of the principal stem so left, the frost mortifie any part, cut it off [...]1664, John Evelyn, “Of the Mulberry”, in Sylva, or A Discourse of Forest-Trees and the Propagation of Timber; republished as Sylva: Or A Discourse of Forest Trees, volume 1, London: Arthur Doubleday, 1908, page 205:

Obsolete To reduce the potency of; to nullify; to deaden, neutralize.

Soothly, the gode werkes, that he dide biforn that he fil in sinne, been al mortified and astoned and dulled by the ofte sinning.c. 1400, Geoffrey Chaucer, The Persones Tale; republished as The Complete Works of Geoffrey Chaucer, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1900, page 580:
Quicksilver is mortified with turpentine.1627 (indicated as 1626), Francis [Bacon], “(please specify the page, or |century=I to X)”, in Sylua Syluarum: Or A Naturall Historie. In Ten Centuries. […], London: […] William Rawley […]; [p]rinted by J[ohn] H[aviland] for William Lee […], →OCLC:

1 more example

He […]mortified them [pearls] in vineger aud drunke them vp1627, G[eorge] H[akewill], An Apologie of the Power and Prouidence of God in the Gouernment of the World. […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] Iohn Lichfield and William Turner, […], →OCLC:

To affect with vexation or chagrin.

He seemed to enjoy mortifying them with news of every fresh hell loosed in the capital.
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

1 more example

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!1712 January 3 (Gregorian calendar), [Joseph Addison; Richard Steele et al.], “SUNDAY, 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:

To scare.

Near-synonym: petrify
Please don't mortify your mother by telling her what a stupidly dangerous thing you did last night.

Obsolete To humble; to depress.

Historical To grant in mortmain.

the schoolmasters of Ayr were paid out of the mills mortified by Queen Mary1876 James Grant, History of the Burgh and Parish Schools of Scotland, Part II, Chapter 14, p.453 (PDF 2.7 MB)

To lose vitality.

[...] Tis a pure ill-natur'd ſatisfaction to ſee one that was a beauty unfortunately move with the ſame languor, and ſoftneſs of behaviour, that once was charming in her—To ſee, I ſay, her mortify that us'd to kill [...]1768, Richard Steele, “Act III. Scene I.”, in The Funeral: or, Grief à-la-Mode. A Comedy, Edinburgh: Martin & Wotherspoon, page 47:

Archaic To kill off (living tissue etc.); to make necrotic.

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.1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 3, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book II, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC:

Archaic To gangrene.

For the inducing of putrefaction, it were good to try it with flesh or fish exposed to the moonbeams; and again exposed to the air when the moon shineth not, for the like time: to see whether will corrupt sooner: and try it also with capon, or some other fowl, laid abroad, to see whether it will mortify and become tender sooner; try it also with dead flies, or dead worms, having a little water cast upon them, to see whether will putrefy sooner.1627, Francis Bacon, “Century IX”, in Sylva Sylvarum, or Natural History; republished as The works of Francis Bacon, Lord Chancellor of England, volume 2, Philadelphia: A. Hart, 1852, page 123:

To be subdued.

Trying to be kind and honest will require all his thoughts; a mortified appetite is never a wise companion; in so far as he has had to mortify an appetite, he will still be the worse man; and of such an one a great deal of cheerfulness will be required in judging life, and a great deal of humility in judging others.1900, Robert Louis Stevenson, A Christmas Sermon: