Definitions

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

  • intransitive & transitive verb To decay or cause to decay and have a foul odor. synonym: decay.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To render putrid; cause to decay with an offensive odor; cause to become fetid by rotting. See putrefaction.
  • To make carious or gangrenous.
  • To corrupt; make foul or offensive.
  • Synonyms Decay, Corrupt, etc. See rot.

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

  • transitive verb To render putrid; to cause to decay offensively; to cause to be decomposed; to cause to rot.
  • transitive verb To corrupt; to make foul.
  • transitive verb To make morbid, carious, or gangrenous.
  • intransitive verb To become putrid; to decay offensively; to rot.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb To become filled with a pus-like or bile-like substance.
  • verb To reach an advanced stage of decomposition.
  • verb To become gangrenous.

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

  • verb become putrid; decay with an offensive smell

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English putrefien, from Old French putrefier, from Latin putrefacere : puter, putr-, rotten; see pū̆- in Indo-European roots + facere, to make; see dhē- in Indo-European roots.]

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