mortified, ppl. a.
(ˈmɔːtɪfaɪd)
[f. mortify v. + -ed1.]
1. In religious use, of persons, their actions or occupations: Dead to sin or the world; having the appetites and passions in subjection; ascetic. Now rare.
| 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 143 How euery mortifyed soule..sholde resorte to y⊇ arke of clere conscyence & there counseyle with god. 1579 Tomson Calvin's Serm. Tim. 488/2 Ho, thou art of the companie of hypocrites, thou art mortified. 1588 Shakes. L.L.L. i. i. 28. 1646 Buck Rich. III, i. 4 Such a mortified and perilous Pilgrimage to Jerusalem. 1651 Wood Life (O.H.S.) I. 166 He became a mortified and pious minister in Shropshire. 1656 Earl of Monmouth tr. Boccalini's Advts. fr. Parnass. i. lxiii. (1674) 79 That laudable zeal of Reputation, which is most intense in even the most mortified Vertuosi. a 1668 R. Lassels Voy. Italy ii. (1670) 19 They content themselves to go bare foot, and teach only the lower Schools, and first rudiments;..A strange mortified trade. 1704 Nelson Fest. & Fasts ii. Prel. Instr. (1707) 436 St. James the Great and St. John were very eminent for a mortified Life. 1720 Strype Stow's Surv. 17/1 A long Beard, Eyes sunk, and an old mortified Face. 1829 Southey All for Love iv. iv. Poet. Wks. VII. 170 To carnal wishes would it turn The mortified intent? 1844 Lingard Anglo-Sax. Ch. (1858) I. iii. 120 An abstemious and mortified life. |
† b. mortified to (rarely mortified of): dead to (the world or its pleasures); hence occas. = insensible to. Obs.
| 1659 Gentl. Calling ix. §8, I fear there are few so mortified to wealth, as to do it upon the score of self-denial. 1660 N. Ingelo Bentiv. & Ur. ii. (1682) 89 He is mortified to all sense of Ingenuous Principles. 1670 Eachard Cont. Clergy 90 An hardy and labouring clergy, that is mortified to an horse, and all such pampering vanities. 1676 Ray Corr. (1848) 123 Reputation (to the vanity of any affectation whereof I desire to be wholly mortified). 1748 Mrs. Harrison House-keeper's Pocket-Bk. Pref., There are but few Philosophers..who are so..mortified to the world as to prefer a dish of Roots. 1809 Malkin Gil Blas x. i, You are mortified to all the pomps and vanities of the world. |
† c. In jocular use: Abstemious. Obs.
| 1665 Pepys Diary 16 Oct., I observing Mr. Povy's being mightily mortifyed in his eating. |
† 2. Dead, slain. Obs.
| 1593 R. Harvey Philad. 17 If any man will raise them from the graue, who will beleeue their mortified Ghosts? 1603 Knolles Hist. Turks (1638) 270 Having ended his speech, he shewed vnto them the grisely mortified heads. 1625 Fletcher & Shirley Night Walker ii, My young Mistriss, that is mortified. |
† 3. Deadened; numbed; insensible. Obs.
| 1601 Shakes. Jul. C. ii. i. 324 Thou like an Exorcist, hast coniur'd vp My mortified Spirit. 1605 ― Lear ii. iii. 15 Bedlam beggers, who with roaring voices, Strike in their num'd and mortified Armes, Pins, Wodden-prickes, Nayles. |
4. Affected by gangrene or necrosis.
| 1597 A. M. tr. Guillemeau's Fr. Chirurg. 33 b, It is necessarye that the vivificent parte expelle from it the mortified. a 1676 Hale Prim. Orig. Man. i. i. (1677) 23 A mortified Limb or Member. 1695 New Light Chirurg. put out 52 His Arm was but little swell'd and not at all mortified. 1720 De Foe Capt. Singleton xi. (1840) 196 He cut off a great deal of mortified flesh. 1801 Med. Jrnl. V. 534, I found the fingers and thumb exhibiting a mortified appearance. 1822–34 Good's Study Med. (ed. 4) II. 656 The mortified parts..are cast off. |
† b. transf. Of plants: Decayed. Obs.
| 1672–3 Grew Anat. Plants, Anat. Roots ii. (1682) 83 Divers of the Succiferous Vessels..lying next the Soil, usually more or less mortified. |
† 5. Of meat: see mortify v. 6. Obs.
| 1617 Moryson Itin. iii. 134 The French alone delight in mortified meates. 1733 Tull Horse-hoeing Husb. 38 Palates, accustom'd to the Goût of..mortify'd Venison. |
6. Scots Law. (See mortify v. 5.)
| 1655 in Z. Boyd Zion's Flowers (1855) App. 38/2 The aforsaid mortified sowmes. 1813 Carlisle Topogr. Dict. Scot. II. s.v. Hoddom, {pstlg}400..arising from two mortified sums. |
7. Humiliated deeply; vexed, chagrined.
| 1717 Lady M. W. Montagu Lett. II. xlv. 29 As I prefer English to all the rest, I am extremely mortified at the daily decay of it in my head. 1725 De Foe Voy. round World (1840) 341 They came home to the rest mortified, wet, and almost famished. 1833 H. Martineau Loom & Lugger ii. iii. 54 They were mortified at finding the house shut. 1838 Lytton Alice i. iii, The mortified pride of affection. 1885 S. Cox Expos. xxv. 343 Base greed and mortified ambition moved him to betray his master. |
Hence ˈmortifiedly adv., ˈmortifiedness.
| 1593 Nashe Christ's T. (1613) 127 If..a young Student sets not a grave face on it, or seemes not mortifiedly religious. 1643 T. Goodwin Trial Chr. Growth 122 So much mortifiednesse, so much constancie. 1832 T. Scott Comm. 2 Kings i. 8 In this manner he showed his mortifiedness to the world. 1846 Landor Exam. Shaks. Wks. II. 298 Whereunto Sir Thomas replied mortifiedly. |