mortify

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• intransitive verb To cause to experience shame, humiliation, or wounded pride.
• intransitive verb To discipline (one's of the body and the appetites) by self-denial or self-inflicted privation, especially for religious reasons.
• intransitive verb To practice mortification of the body and its appetites.
• intransitive verb To undergo mortification; become gangrenous.

from The Century Dictionary.

• To destroy the life of; destroy the vitality of (a part of a living body); affect with gangrene.
• To deaden; render insensible; make apathetic.
• To reduce in strength or force; weaken.
• To subdue, restrain, reduce, or bring into subjection by abstinence or rigorous severities; bring under subjection by ascetic discipline or regimen; subject or restrain in any way, for moral or religious reasons.
• To humiliate; depress; affect with vexation or chagrin.
• In chem. and metallurgy, to destroy or diminish the active powers or characteristic qualities of.
• In Scots law, to dispose of by mortification. See mortification, 3.
• Synonyms To shame, chagrin. See mortification.
• To lose vitality and organic structure while yet a portion of the living body; become gangrenous.
• To become languid; fall into decay.
• To be subdued; die away: said of inordinate appetites, etc.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

• intransitive verb To lose vitality and organic structure, as flesh of a living body; to gangrene.
• intransitive verb To practice penance from religious motives; to deaden desires by religious discipline.
• intransitive verb To be subdued; to decay, as appetites, desires, etc.
• transitive verb To destroy the organic texture and vital functions of; to produce gangrene in.
• transitive verb obsolete To destroy the active powers or essential qualities of; to change by chemical action.
• transitive verb To deaden by religious or other discipline, as the carnal affections, bodily appetites, or worldly desires; to bring into subjection; to abase; to humble.
• transitive verb To affect with vexation, chagrin; to depress.
• transitive verb To humiliate deeply, especially by injuring the pride of; to embarrass painfully; to humble.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• verb hold within limits and control
• verb undergo necrosis
• verb practice self-denial of one's body and appetites
• verb cause to feel shame; hurt the pride of