putrefy
VerbOpen English WordNet
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haphazardadjective
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Webster's Dictionary (1913)
Pu′tre·fy transitive verb [Written also putrify.] [past tense & past participle Putrefied (…); present participle & verbal noun Putrefying (…).]
Origin: F. putréfier; L. putrere to be rotten + -ficare (in. comp.) to make; cf. L. putrefacere. See Putrid, and -fy.
1. To render putrid; to cause to decay offensively; to cause to be decomposed; to cause to rot.
2. To corrupt; to make foul.
Private suits do putrefy the public good.— Francis, Baron Verulam Bacon
They would but stink, and putrefy the air.— William Shakespeare
3. To make morbid, carious, or gangrenous; as, to putrefy an ulcer or wound.
Pu′tre·fy intransitive verb
To become putrid; to decay offensively; to rot. Isa. 1. 6.
Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913), from GCIDE 0.54