putrefy
[pyoo-truh-fahy]
verb (used with object), pu·tre·fied, pu·tre·fy·ing.
to render putrid; cause to rot or decay with an offensive odor.
verb (used without object), pu·tre·fied, pu·tre·fy·ing.
to become putrid; rot.
to become gangrenous.
RELATED WORDS
Origin of putrefy
1350–1400; Middle English putrefien < Middle French putrefier < Vulgar Latin *putreficāre, for Latin putrefacere to make rotten
Synonyms for putrefy
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019
Examples from the Web for putrefy
Historical Examples of putrefy
They never bury their dead, but lay them in the sun to putrefy.
They are then allowed to putrefy, in order to get rid of the animal matter, and the red coral is the skeleton that is left.
Coral and Coral ReefsThomas H. Huxley
It must not evaporate like alcohol, nor putrefy like animal substances, nor decay like wood, nor rust like iron.
Readings in Money and BankingChester Arthur Phillips
Stay either to putrefy with pleasure or to be embalmed in dulness?
The Journal of Arthur StirlingUpton Sinclair
Dirt of every kind lies about freely, to be washed into them or left to putrefy as fate shall direct.
The English in the West IndiesJames Anthony Froude
putrefy
verb -fies, -fying or -fied
Word Origin for putrefy
C15: from Old French putrefier + Latin putrefacere, from puter rotten + facere to make
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
putrefy
[pyōō′trə-fī′]
v.
The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.