All 4 Uses of
perish
in
The Pit and the Pendulum
- The condemned to death, I knew, perished usually at the autos-da-fe, and one of these had been held on the very night of the day of my trial.†
- Was I left to perish of starvation in this subterranean world of darkness; or what fate, perhaps even more fearful, awaited me?†
- Shaking in every limb, I groped my way back to the wall; resolving there to perish rather than risk the terrors of the wells,
*perish = die
- I felt that it was of joy—of hope; but felt also that it had perished in its formation.†
Definition:
-
(perish) to die -- especially in an unnatural way
or:
to be destroyed or cease to existeditor's notes: 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.