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mummify

/ˌmʌməˈfaɪ/
IPA guide

Other forms: mummified; mummifying; mummifies

To mummify is to make a mummy — to prepare a dead body for preservation after burial. Ancient Egyptians would often mummify bodies by wrapping them in cloth. Don't try that at home!

Many cultures have had a tradition of mummification — in other words, they would mummify their dead, often to insure a happy afterlife, by removing the internal organs, treating the body with minerals and oils, and wrapping it. Sometimes burial conditions, like a very dry location, have served to accidentally mummify a body. Mummify adds the verb-forming suffix fy to mummy, rooted in the Arabic mumiyah.

Definitions of mummify
  1. verb
    remove the organs and dry out (a dead body) in order to preserve it
    “Th Egyptians mummified their pharaohs”
    synonyms:
    dry up
    dry up and shrivel due to complete loss of moisture
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    type of:
    embalm
    preserve a dead body
  2. verb
    preserve while making lifeless
    “mummified ideas and institutions should be gotten rid of”
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    type of:
    bear on, carry on, continue, preserve, uphold
    keep or maintain in unaltered condition; cause to remain or last
  3. verb
    dry up and shrivel due to complete loss of moisture
    “a mummified body was found”
    synonyms: dry up
    see moresee less
    type of:
    shrink, shrivel, shrivel up, wither
    wither, as with a loss of moisture
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