All 50 Uses of
perish
in
The Odyssey, by Homer - (translated by: Cowper)
- He num'rous woes on Ocean toss'd, endured, Anxious to save himself, and to conduct His followers to their home; yet all his care Preserved them not; they perish'd self-destroy'd By their own fault; infatuate!†
Book 1perish'd = died, was destroyed, or ceased to exist
- And well he merited the death he found; 60 So perish all, who shall, like him, offend.†
Book 1 *perish = die, be destroyed, or cease to exist
- hath by a wretched fate, Past question perish'd, and what news soe'er We hear of his return, kindles no hope 210 In us, convinced that he returns no more.†
Book 1perish'd = died, was destroyed, or ceased to exist
- Of all who fought At Troy, Ulysses hath not lost, alone, His day of glad return; but many a Chief Hath perish'd also.†
Book 1
- Death, far hence remote Hath found Ulysses, and I would to heav'n That, where he died, thyself had perish'd too.†
Book 2
- Who knows but that himself, wand'ring the sea From all his friends and kindred far remote, May perish like Ulysses?†
Book 2perish = die, be destroyed, or cease to exist
- Nor of the Greecians, who are saved have heard, Or who have perish'd; but what news soe'er I have obtain'd, since my return, with truth I will relate, nor aught conceal from thee.†
Book 3perish'd = died, was destroyed, or ceased to exist
- Myself, I had much rather, many woes endured, Revisit home, at last, happy and safe, 300 Than, sooner coming, die in my own house, As Agamemnon perish'd by the arts Of base AEgisthus and the subtle Queen.†
Book 3
- Eat and rejoice, and when ye shall have shared Our nuptial banquet, we will then inquire Who are ye both, for, certain, not from those Whose generation perishes are ye, But rather of some race of sceptred Chiefs Heav'n-born; the base have never sons like you.†
Book 4perishes = dies or is destroyed
- I own'd at home Though but the third of it, and that the Greeks Who perish'd then, beneath the walls of Troy Far from steed-pastured Argos, still survived.†
Book 4perish'd = died, was destroyed, or ceased to exist
- Him Neptune, first, against the bulky rocks The Gyrae drove, but saved him from the Deep; Nor had he perish'd, hated as he was By Pallas, but for his own impious boast In frenzy utter'd that he would escape The billows, even in the Gods' despight.†
Book 4
- Went he, that, with himself, his very name Might perish from among mankind for ever?†
Book 4perish = die, be destroyed, or cease to exist
- But when Penelope, the palace stairs Remounting, had her upper chamber reach'd, There, unrefresh'd with either food or wine, She lay'd her down, her noble son the theme Of all her thoughts, whether he should escape His haughty foes, or perish by their hands.†
Book 4
- And thou enjoin'st me a cessation too From sorrows num'rous, and which, fretting, wear My heart continual; first, my spouse I lost With courage lion-like endow'd, a prince All-excellent, whose never-dying praise Through Hellas and all Argos flew diffused; And now my only son, new to the toils 990 And hazards of the sea, nor less untaught The arts of traffic, in a ship is gone Far hence, for whose dear cause I sorrow more Than for his Sire himself, and even shake With terror, lest he perish by their hands To whom he goes, or in the stormy Deep; For num'rous are his foes, and all intent To slay him, ere he reach his home again.†
Book 4
- Then perish'd all his gallant friends, but him Billows and storms drove hither; Jove commands 130 That thou dismiss him hence without delay, For fate ordains him not to perish here From all his friends remote, but he is doom'd To see them yet again, and to arrive At his own palace in his native land.†
Book 5perish'd = died, was destroyed, or ceased to exist
- Then perish'd all his gallant friends, but him Billows and storms drove hither; Jove commands 130 That thou dismiss him hence without delay, For fate ordains him not to perish here From all his friends remote, but he is doom'd To see them yet again, and to arrive At his own palace in his native land.†
Book 5perish = die, be destroyed, or cease to exist
- Then perish'd all his gallant friends, but him Billows and storms drove hither, whom I lov'd Sincere, and fondly destin'd to a life Immortal, unobnoxious to decay.†
Book 5perish'd = died, was destroyed, or ceased to exist
- Then had the hapless Hero premature Perish'd, but for sagacity inspired By Pallas azure-eyed.†
Book 5
- There perish'd all The valiant partners of my toils, and I My vessel's keel embracing day and night 310 With folded arms, nine days was borne along.†
Book 7
- Perish'd thy father or thy brother there?†
Book 8
- Six warlike Greecians from each galley's crew Perish'd in that dread field; the rest escaped.†
Book 9
- I then, awaking, in my noble mind Stood doubtful, whether from my vessel's side 60 Immersed to perish in the flood, or calm To endure my sorrows, and content to live.†
Book 10perish = die, be destroyed, or cease to exist
- They, dreading instant death tugg'd resupine Together, and the galley from beneath 160 Those beetling[39] rocks into the open sea Shot gladly; but the rest all perish'd there.†
Book 10perish'd = died, was destroyed, or ceased to exist
- Speak—say how perish'd our unhappy friends?†
Book 10
- So some were pris'ners of the Cyclops erst, When, led by rash Ulysses, our lost friends Intruded needlessly into his cave, And perish'd by the folly of their Chief.†
Book 10
- Fool'd by some daemon and the intemp'rate bowl, I perish'd in the house of Circe; there 70 The deep-descending steps heedless I miss'd, And fell precipitated from the roof.†
Book 11
- So perish'd I; such fate I also found; Me, neither the right-aiming arch'ress struck, Diana, with her gentle shafts, nor me Distemper slew, my limbs by slow degrees But sure, bereaving of their little life, 240 But long regret, tender solicitude, And recollection of thy kindness past, These, my Ulysses!†
Book 11
- Theseus her From Crete toward the fruitful region bore 390 Of sacred Athens, but enjoy'd not there, For, first, she perish'd by Diana's shafts In Dia, Bacchus witnessing her crime.†
Book 11
- the time suffices yet 460 For converse both and sleep, and if thou wish To hear still more, I shall not spare to unfold More pitiable woes than these, sustain'd By my companions, in the end destroy'd; Who, saved from perils of disast'rous war At Ilium, perish'd yet in their return, Victims of a pernicious woman's crime.†
Book 11
- [48] Now, when chaste Proserpine had wide dispers'd Those female shades, the spirit sore distress'd Of Agamemnon, Atreus' son, appear'd; 470 Encircled by a throng, he came; by all Who with himself beneath AEgisthus' roof Their fate fulfill'd, perishing by the sword†
Book 11perishing = dying or being destroyed; or extremely cold
- Say, didst thou perish sunk By howling tempests irresistible Which Neptune raised, or on dry land by force Of hostile multitudes, while cutting off Beeves from the herd, or driving flocks away, Or fighting for Achaia's daughters, shut Within some city's bulwarks close besieged?†
Book 11perish = die, be destroyed, or cease to exist
- I neither perish'd sunk By howling tempests irresistible Which Neptune raised, nor on dry land received From hostile multitudes the fatal blow, But me AEgisthus slew; my woeful death Confed'rate with my own pernicious wife He plotted, with a show of love sincere Bidding me to his board, where as the ox Is slaughter'd at his crib, he slaughter'd me.†
Book 11perish'd = died, was destroyed, or ceased to exist
- (for it is needful that not one Or two alone the admonition hear 180 Of Circe, beauteous prophetess divine) To all I speak, that whether we escape Or perish, all may be, at least, forewarn'd†
Book 12perish = die, be destroyed, or cease to exist
- But should he chuse to sink Our vessel, for his stately beeves incensed, And should, with him, all heav'n conspire our death, I rather had with open mouth, at once, 410 Meeting the billows, perish, than by slow And pining waste here in this desert isle.†
Book 12
- Deliver'd to a voluntary fall, Fast by those beams I dash'd into the flood, And seated on them both, with oary palms Impell'd them; nor the Sire of Gods and men 520 Permitted Scylla to discern me more, Else had I perish'd by her fangs at last.†
Book 12perish'd = died, was destroyed, or ceased to exist
- He also spake, prophetic, of a day When a Phaeacian gallant bark, return'd After conveyance of a stranger hence, Should perish in the dreary Deep, and changed To a huge mountain, cover all the town.†
Book 13perish = die, be destroyed, or cease to exist
- Much had I, therefore, prosper'd, had my Lord Grown old at home; but he hath died—I would That the whole house of Helen, one and all, Might perish too, for she hath many slain Who, like my master, went glory to win For Agamemnon in the fields of Troy.†
Book 14
- Thou say'st he perish'd for the glory-sake Of Agamemnon.†
Book 14perish'd = died, was destroyed, or ceased to exist
- No wanderer lands in Ithaca, but he seeks With feign'd intelligence my mistress' ear; She welcomes all, and while she questions each Minutely, from her lids lets fall the tear Affectionate, as well beseems a wife Whose mate hath perish'd in a distant land.†
Book 14
- So hath he perish'd; whence, to all his friends, But chiefly to myself, sorrow of heart; For such another Lord, gentle as he, 170 Wherever sought, I have no hope to find, Though I should wander even to the house Of my own father.†
Book 14
- Ay—there I feel again—nor cease to mourn His son Telemachus; who, when the Gods Had giv'n him growth like a young plant, and I Well hoped that nought inferior he should prove In person or in mind to his own sire, Hath lost, through influence human or divine, I know not how, his sober intellect, 220 And after tidings of his sire is gone To far-famed Pylus; his return, meantime, In ambush hidden the proud suitors wait, That the whole house may perish of renown'd Arcesias, named in Ithaca no more.†
Book 14perish = die, be destroyed, or cease to exist
- But he hath perish'd by a woeful death, And I, believing it, with these have plow'd The ocean hither, int'rested to learn A father's fate long absent from his home.†
Book 15perish'd = died, was destroyed, or ceased to exist
- surely thy resolve Is altogether fixt to perish there, If thou indeed hast purposed with that throng To mix, whose riot and outrageous acts 400 Of violence echo through the vault of heav'n.†
Book 15perish = die, be destroyed, or cease to exist
- But if alone to multitudes opposed I should perchance be foiled; nobler it were With my own people, under my own roof To perish, than to witness evermore Their unexampled deeds, guests shoved aside, 130 Maidens dragg'd forcibly from room to room, Casks emptied of their rich contents, and them Indulging glutt'nous appetite day by day Enormous, without measure, without end.†
Book 16
- for I imagine not that all The warrior Greeks shall safe from Troy return, Since fame reports the Trojans brave in fight, Skill'd in the spear, mighty to draw the bow, And nimble vaulters to the backs of steeds High-mettled, which to speediest issue bring The dreadful struggle of all-wasting war— I know not, therefore, whether heav'n intend 320 My safe return, or I must perish there.†
Book 18
- Would that this rambling stranger had elsewhere 500 Perish'd, or ever he had here arrived, Then no such uproar had he caused as this!†
Book 18perish'd = died, was destroyed, or ceased to exist
- Therefore well beware 100 Thou also, mistress, lest a day arrive When all these charms by which thou shin'st among Thy sister-menials, fade; fear, too, lest her Thou should'st perchance irritate, whom thou serv'st, And lest Ulysses come, of whose return Hope yet survives; but even though the Chief Have perish'd, as ye think, and comes no more, Consider yet his son, how bright the gifts Shine of Apollo in the illustrious Prince Telemachus; no woman, unobserved 110 By him, can now commit a trespass here; His days of heedless infancy are past.†
Book 19
- They perish'd all Amid the billowy flood; but Him, the keel Bestriding of his bark, the waves at length Cast forth on the Phaeacian's land, a race Allied to heav'n, who rev'renced like a God 350 Thy husband, honour'd him with num'rous gifts, And willing were to have convey'd him home.†
Book 19
- it is not possible to miss Thy dream's plain import, since Ulysses' self Hath told thee the event; thy suitors all Must perish; not one suitor shall escape.†
Book 19perish = die, be destroyed, or cease to exist
- For, coming to the house of Hercules The valiant task-performing son of Jove, He perish'd there, slain by his cruel host 30 Who, heedless of heav'n's wrath, and of the rights Of his own board, first fed, then slaughter'd him; For in his house the mares and colts were hidden.†
Book 21perish'd = died, was destroyed, or ceased to exist
Definition:
to die -- especially in an unnatural way
or:
to be destroyed or cease to exist
or:
to be destroyed or cease to exist
You may encounter an informal expression, "Perish the thought." It means that the speaker hopes the thought will cease to exist and the thing it represents will never happen.