[syn: savage, blast, pillory, crucify]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Crucify \Cru"ci*fy\ (-f?), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Crucified
(-f?d); p. pr. & vb. n. Crucifying.] [F. crucifier, fr.
(assumed) LL. crucificare, for crucifigere, fr, L. crux,
crucis, cross + figere to fix, the ending -figere being
changed to -ficare, F. -fier (in compounds), as if fr. L.
facere to do, make. See Cross, and Fix, and cf.
Crucifix.]
1. To fasten to a cross; to put to death by nailing the hands
and feet to a cross or gibbet.
[1913 Webster]
They cried, saying, Crucify him, cricify him. --Luke
xxiii. 21.
[1913 Webster]
2. To destroy the power or ruling influence of; to subdue
completely; to mortify.
[1913 Webster]
They that are Christ's have crucified the flesh,
with the affections and lusts. --Gal. v. 24.
[1913 Webster]
3. To vex or torment. --Beau. & FL.
[1913 Webster]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
crucify
v 1: kill by nailing onto a cross; "Jesus Christ was crucified"
2: treat cruelly; "The children tormented the stuttering
teacher" [syn: torment, rag, bedevil, crucify, dun,
frustrate]
3: hold within limits and control; "subdue one's appetites";
"mortify the flesh" [syn: mortify, subdue, crucify]
4: criticize harshly or violently; "The press savaged the new
President"; "The critics crucified the author for
plagiarizing a famous passage" [syn: savage, blast,
pillory, crucify]
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:
122 Moby Thesaurus words for "crucify":
abuse, afflict, aggrieve, agonize, ail, bedevil, befoul, behead,
bewitch, bite, blight, bloody, bother, bowstring, browbeat, burn,
chafe, claw, condemn, convulse, corrupt, curse, cut, damage,
decapitate, decollate, defenestrate, defile, deprave, despoil,
destroy, disadvantage, disserve, distress, do a mischief, do evil,
do ill, do wrong, do wrong by, doom, electrocute, envenom,
excruciate, execute, fester, fret, gall, garrote, get into trouble,
give pain, gnaw, grate, grind, gripe, guillotine, harass, harm,
harrow, hex, hurt, impair, impale, infect, inflame,
inflict capital punishment, inflict pain, injure, irritate, jinx,
kill by inches, lacerate, lancinate, lapidate, macerate, maltreat,
martyr, martyrize, menace, mistreat, molest, nip, outrage, pain,
persecute, pierce, pinch, play havoc with, play hob with, poison,
pollute, prejudice, prick, prolong the agony, punish, put to death,
put to torture, rack, rankle, rasp, rip, rub, savage, scarify,
scathe, shoot, smite, stab, sting, stone, strangle, taint,
threaten, torment, torture, try, tweak, twist, violate, wound,
wreak havoc on, wring, wrong