perishing

comparative more perishing · superlative most perishing

1. Extremely cold.
2. Extreme; used of environmental or bodily conditions.

   If many more white men knew of this method of obtaining and extracting water, there would be, perhaps, many saved from the horrors of perishing thirst.

   1946, Frank W. C. Rieck, Life as I See It, page 308

   1 more example

   A boulder ground into Joe's thigh and he yelled for what seemed an eternity in the perishing heat but, apart from a few bird calls, the horse's laboured breath was the only sound he heard.

   2011, Mary Groves, An Outback Life, page 102

1. gerundparticiplepresentpresent participle and gerund of perish

plural perishings

1. The act of something that perishes; decay or destruction.

   Since the world of becoming, of origins and perishings, is deficient in true Being, it cannot be known in the best sense.

   1971, William Barrett, Henry David Aiken, Pragmatism and America's philosophical coming of age, page 323