putrefy

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   To reach an advanced stage of decomposition.

   In the Middle Ages, for instance, a recipe for sex stimulation required the putrefied flesh of a human corpse, together with both human and animal testes and ovaries, pimento, and alcohol.

2. 2
   verb

   To make morbid, carious, or gangrenous.

   To putrefy an ulcer or wound.

3. 3
   verb

   To corrupt; to make foul.

   Private suits do putrefy the public good.

From Middle French putréfier.

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