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perishable, a. (n.)|ˈpɛrɪʃəb(ə)l|
[f. perish v. + -able; cf. F. périssable (c 1400 in Hatz.-Darm.).]
1. Liable to perish; subject to destruction, decay, or death; esp. naturally subject to speedy decay, as organic substances, minerals which rapidly weather or become decomposed, and the like.
1611Cotgr., Perissable, perishable. 1648J. Goodwin Youngling Elder 33 All books whatsoever are perishable. a1687Petty Pol. Arith. (1690) 18 Silver, Gold, and Jewels,..are not perishable, nor so mutable as other Commodities. 1776Adam Smith W. N. i. xi. (1869) I. 238 Of all the productions of land, milk is perhaps the most perishable. 1790Cowper Adam iv. vii, Thou perishable flesh and form of clay. 1810E. Weeton Jrnl. Apr. (1969) I. 257 He will sometimes order such quantities of perishable household articles, that one half are sometimes wasted. 1839Murchison Silur. Syst. i. xxvii. 341 Non-micaceous perishable shale. 1849Helps Friends in C. (1851) II. 185 Systems, constitutions, and the like are perishable things. 1862Dickens Lett. (1880) II. 172 It is not made of a perishable material. 1929F. C. Bowen Sea Slang 102 Perishable Cargo. In the 18th century, slaves or fruit. 1958M. Roberts Gustavus Adolphus II. i. 43 Gustav Vasa..discharged his debt to Lübeck in goods, and sometimes in goods of a dangerously perishable nature: at least one instalment was paid in butter.
2. a. absol. quasi-n. the perishable, that which is perishable or transitory.
1821Byron Heav. & Earth i. 28 Were I the Seraph, And he the perishable. 1843J. Martineau Chr. Life (1867) 10 It is the Immortal against the Perishable. a1854H. Reed Lect. Eng. Lit. ii. (1878) 61 In the elder literature, the perishable has passed away.
b. n. pl. Things liable to decay: said chiefly of food-stuffs in transit.
1742Richardson Corr. (1804) I. 83 The fall of the leaves fills the pools, the ponds, and the dikes..with particles, and animalcula, and perishables, of vegetable as well as animal nature. 1807Moore Mem. (1853) I. 224 Recollections are too like the other perishables of this world. 1880Muirhead Gaius ii. §64 A procurator may alienate perishables belonging to his principal. 1895Spectator 26 Oct. 553/2 Perishables like fish and flowers.
Hence ˈperishably adv., in a perishable manner, by being perishable.
1891Gd. Words Aug. 519 So strange it seems to me Beauty should perishably find its close. |