Definitions

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

  • transitive verb To put (a person) to death by nailing or binding to a cross.
  • transitive verb To mortify or subdue (the flesh).
  • transitive verb To treat cruelly; torment.
  • transitive verb To criticize harshly; pillory.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To put to death by nailing or otherwise affixing to a cross. See crucifixion.
  • Figuratively, in Scripture, to subdue; mortify; kill; destroy the power or influence of.
  • To vex; torment; excruciate.
  • To put or place in the form of a cross; cross.

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

  • transitive verb To fasten to a cross; to put to death by nailing the hands and feet to a cross or gibbet.
  • transitive verb To destroy the power or ruling influence of; to subdue completely; to mortify.
  • transitive verb To vex or torment.

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

  • verb To execute (a person) by nailing to a cross.
  • verb To punish or otherwise express extreme anger at, especially as a scapegoat or target of outrage.
  • verb informal To thoroughly beat at a sport or game.

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

  • verb hold within limits and control
  • verb kill by nailing onto a cross
  • verb treat cruelly
  • verb criticize harshly or violently

Etymologies

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

[Middle English crucifien, from Old French crucifier, alteration of Latin crucifīgere : crux, cruc-, cross + fīgere, to attach; see dhīgw- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Old French crucefier, from Latin crucifigo.

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