Perish, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Perished; p. pr. & vb. n. Perishing.]
Etymology: [OE. perissen, perisshen, F. périr, p.pr. périssant, L. perire to go or run through, come to nothing, perish; per through + ire to go. Cf. Issue, and see -ish.]
To be destroyed; to pass away; to become nothing; to be lost; to die; hence, to wither; to waste away. I perish with hunger! Luke xv. 17. Grow up and perish, as the summer fly. Milton. The thoughts of a soul that perish in thinking. Locke.
1 other Webster entry under this spelling
Perish, v. t.
To cause perish. [Obs.] Bacon.
Shades of meaning
Fernald has no entry of its own for perish; he lists it under die.
Where he writes about it:
To perish (literally, in Latin, to go through, as in English we say, "the fire goes out") is oftenest used of death by privation or exposure; as, "I perish with hunger," Luke xv, 17; sometimes, of death by violence. — from die
Knowledge and fame, art and empires, may be said to perish; the word denotes utter destruction and decay. — from die