Verb

(en-verb)

(obsolete) To kill.

(obsolete) To reduce the potency of; to nullify; to deaden, neutralize.

* Francis Bacon

Quicksilver is mortified with turpentine.

* Hakewill

He mortified pearls in vinegar.

(obsolete) To kill off (living tissue etc.); to make necrotic.

*, II.3:

*:Servius the Grammarian being troubled with the gowt, found no better meanes to be rid of it, than to apply poison to mortifie his legs.

To discipline (one's body, appetites etc.) by suppressing desires; to practise abstinence on.

Some people seek sainthood by mortifying the body.

* Harte

With fasting mortified , worn out with tears.

* Prior

Mortify thy learned lust.

* Bible, Col. iii. 5

Mortify , therefore, your members which are upon the earth.

(usually, used passively) To embarrass, to humiliate.

I was so mortified I could have died right there, instead I fainted, but I swore I'd never let that happen to me again.

*

, title=(The Celebrity), chapter=5 , passage=Then we relapsed into a discomfited silence, and wished we were anywhere else. But Miss Thorn relieved the situation by laughing aloud, and with such a hearty enjoyment that instead of getting angry and more mortified we began to laugh ourselves, and instantly felt better.}}

(obsolete) To affect with vexation, chagrin, or humiliation; to humble; to depress.

* Evelyn

the news of the fatal battle of Worcester, which exceedingly mortified our expectations

* Addison

How often is the ambitious man mortified with the very praises he receives, if they do not rise so high as he thinks they ought!

(Scotland, legal, historical) To grant in mortmain

* 1876 James Grant, History of the Burgh and Parish Schools of Scotland , Part II, Chapter 14, p.453 ( PDF 2.7 MB):

the schoolmasters of Ayr were paid out of the mills mortified by Queen Mary

Verb

(head)

(prevent)

Verb

(en verb)

To stop; to keep (from happening).

I brushed my teeth to prevent them from going yellow.

* {{quote-news

, year=2011 , date=October 1 , author=Tom Fordyce , title=Rugby World Cup 2011: England 16-12 Scotland , work=BBC Sport citation , page= , passage=Scotland must now hope Georgia produce a huge upset and beat Argentina by at least eight points in Sunday's final Pool B match to prevent them failing to make the last eight for the first time in World Cup history.}}

* 1897 , Henry James, What Maisie Knew :

‘I think you must be mad, and she shall not have a glimpse of it while I'm here to prevent !’

(obsolete) To come before; to precede.

* Bible, 1 Thess. iv. 15

We which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.

* Book of Common Prayer

We pray thee that thy grace may always prevent and follow us.

* Prior

Then had I come, preventing Sheba's queen.

(obsolete) To outdo, surpass.

* 1596 , Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene , IV.i:

With that he put his spurres vnto his steed, / With speare in rest, and toward him did fare, / Like shaft out of a bow preuenting speed.

(obsolete) To be beforehand with; to anticipate.

* Alexander Pope

their ready guilt preventing thy commands