perdition
(pəˈdɪʃən)
Also 4 -cyun, 4–6 -cion, -cioun, etc.
[ME. a. OF. perdiciun (11th c. in Littré), perdicion, F. perdition, ad. L. perditiōn-em, n. of action from perdĕre to make away with, destroy, lose; f. per- 3 + dare to give, put.]
1. The fact or condition of being destroyed or ruined; utter destruction, complete ruin. Now rare.
| a 1340 Hampole Psalter, etc. 520 (Deut. xxxii. 35) Bisyde is þe day of perdicyun. 1382 Wyclif ibid., Nyȝ is the day of perdicioun [Vulg. dies perditionis; Coverd., the tyme of their destruccion is at honde]. ― Prov. vi. 15 To this anoon shal come his perdicioun, and sodeynli he shall be to-treden [Vulg. perditio sua; Coverd. destruccion, 1611 calamity]. 1456 Sir G. Haye Law Arms (S.T.S.) 87 The parting of him and his company out of the ost, put all the lave in poynt of perdicioun. a 1548 Hall Chron., Hen. VII 27 b, What losse & perdicion of many noble Capitaynes and stronge souldiours must..ensue at the assaute. 1604 Shakes. Oth. ii. ii. 3 Certaine tydings..importing the meere perdition of the Turkish Fleete. 1643 tr. Hildanus' Exper. Chyrurg. iv. 9 A great Combustion..leaveth behinde it a..withered scarre, by reason of the perdition and contraction of the skin. 1682 Sir T. Browne Chr. Mor. ii. §7 A Man may be cheaply vitious, to the perdition of himself. 1829 W. Irving in Life & Lett. (1864) II. 371, I trust in a few days to finish the narrative of the invasion and perdition of Spain. |
† b. In affected or rhetorical use: Loss, diminution, lessening. Obs.
| 1599 Shakes. Hen. V, iii. vi. 103 The perdition of th'athuersarie hath beene very great, reasonnable great. 1602 ― Ham. v. ii. 117 Sir, his definement suffers no perdition in you. 1610 ― Temp. i. ii. 30 There is no soule, No not so much perdition as an hayre Betid to any creature in the vessell. |
† c. That wherein ruin or destruction lies; the ‘ruin’ of anything. Obs. or arch.
| c 1625 Milton Death Fair Infant x, To turn Swift⁓rushing black perdition hence. 1649 Jer. Taylor Gt. Exemp. ii. Ad Sect. xii. 93 Free revellings, carnivals and balls, which are the perdition of precious hours. 1718 Rowe tr. Lucan x. 94 Thou lewd perdition of the Latian name! |
2. Theol. The condition of final spiritual ruin or damnation, the future condition of the wicked and finally impenitent or unredeemed; the fate of those in hell, eternal death.
(A special theological application of the word, which has led to its disuse in the general sense.)
| 1382 Wyclif John xvii. 12 No man of hem perischide, no but the sone of perdicioun [Vulg. nisi filius perditionis]. ― Phil. i. 28 The which is to hem cause of perdicioun [gloss, or of damnacioun, Tindale, a token of perdicion]. 1432–50 tr. Higden (Rolls) III. 123 This Antecriste..is callede the son of perdicion. 1563 Homilies ii. Nativity (1859) 407 Children of perdition and inheritors of hell fire. 1614 Raleigh Hist. World i. vi. §3. 85 [They] daylie trauaile towards their eternall perdition. 1781 Cowper Hope 387 If appetite, or what divines call lust,..Be punished with perdition, who is pure? 1869 Browning Ring & Bk. xi. 2283 Would you send A soul straight to perdition, dying frank An atheist? |
b. In imprecations. (Cf. damnation.)
| 1604 Shakes. Oth. iii. iii. 90 Excellent Wretch: Perdition catch my Soule But I do loue thee. a 1619 Fletcher Bonduca iii. v, Perdition Take me for ever, if in my fell anger, I do not out-do all example. 1841 Lane Arab. Nts. I. 106 ‘Perdition to unfaithful wives!’ 1894 R. Bridges Feast of Bacchus ii. 566 Perdition take me now! |
† c. The place of destruction or damnation. Obs.
In Wyclif, after the Vulgate, rendering Hebr. abaddōn the place of perishing, Hades; in Coverdale and 1611 rendered ‘destruction’.
| 1382 Wyclif Job xxviii. 22 Perdicioun and deth seiden, With oure eris wee han herd the fame of it. ― Prov. xxvii. 20 Helle and perdicioun neuere ben fulfild. ― Ps. lxxxvii[i]. 12 [11] Whether sum man shal telle in sepulcris thi mercy; and thi treuthe in to perdicioun. 1667 Milton P.L. i. 47 Flaming from th' Etherial Skie With hideous ruine and combustion down To bottomless perdition. |
3. Comb. perdition-money: see quot.
| 1683 Barnard Heylin lvi. 173 The exacting of Sconses or perdition mony, which he [as Treasurer of Westminster] divided among them that best deserved it, who diligently kept Prayers, and attended upon other Church Duties. |
Hence perˈditionable a., deserving perdition.
| 1827 Pollock Course T. iii. 529 Wild, blasphemous, perditionable thoughts, That Satan in them moved. |