perishing

perishing (comparative more perishing, superlative most perishing)

1. Extremely cold.
2. Extreme; used of environmental or bodily conditions.
   • 1946, Frank W. C. Rieck, Life as I See It, page 308:

     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.

   • 2011, Mary Groves, An Outback Life, page 102:

     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.

perishing

1. present participle of perish

perishing (plural perishings)

1. The act of something that perishes; decay or destruction.
   • 1971, William Barrett; Henry David Aiken, Pragmatism and America's philosophical coming of age, page 323:

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