to die or be destroyed through violence, privation, etc.: to perish in an earthquake.
2.
to pass away or disappear: an age of elegance that has forever perished.
3.
to suffer destruction or ruin: His valuable paintings perished in the fire.
4.
to suffer spiritual death: Save us, lest we perish.
Idiom
5.
perish the thought, may it never happen: used facetiously or as an afterthought of foreboding.
Origin: 1200–50; Middle English perissen < Old French periss-, long stem of perir < Latin perīre to perish, literally, go through, spend fully, equivalent to per-per- + īre to go
mid-13c., from periss- prp. stem of O.Fr. perir, from L. perire "to be lost, perish," lit. "to go through," from per- "through, completely, to destruction" + ire "to go." Perishables in reference to foodstuffs is attested from 1895.