mummify

verb

mum·​mi·​fy ˈmə-mi-ˌfī 

mummified; mummifying

transitive verb

1

: to embalm and dry as or as if a mummy

2

a

: to make into or like a mummy

b

: to cause to dry up and shrivel

intransitive verb

: to dry up and shrivel like a mummy

mummification

ˌmə-mi-fə-ˈkā-shən 

noun

Examples of mummify in a Sentence

learning how ancient Egyptians mummified their dead

a body that mummified in the desert heat

a body that was mummified by the desert heat

Recent Examples on the Web

At the beginning of that play, her character has spent a decade as a sort of half widow; her husband, who had disappeared ten years earlier, has finally been found, mummified in a peat bog. —Helen Shaw, The New Yorker, 3 Oct. 2024

Also in 2020, researchers described the discovery of a 57,000-year-old wolf pup that had been mummified in permafrost in Canada’s Yukon territory. —Margherita Bassi, Smithsonian Magazine, 3 Sep. 2024

Those costly and time-consuming techniques go against the notion that the woman was intentionally mummified quickly and cheaply. —Paul Smaglik, Discover Magazine, 2 Aug. 2024

Found in a wooden coffin, the elderly woman dressed in a black wig and gold and silver scarab rings had been mummified with nothing short of a look of horror on her face. —New Atlas, 2 Aug. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1628, in the meaning defined at transitive sense 1

Kids Definition

mummify

verb

mum·​mi·​fy ˈməm-i-ˌfī 

mummified; mummifying

1

: to embalm and dry as or like a mummy

2

: to dry up like the skin of a mummy : shrivel

mummification

ˌməm-i-fə-ˈkā-shən 

noun

Medical Definition

mummify

verb

mum·​mi·​fy ˈməm-i-ˌfī 

mummified; mummifying

transitive verb

1

: to embalm and dry as or as if a mummy

2

a

: to make into or like a mummy

b

: to cause to dry up and shrivel

intransitive verb

: to dry up and shrivel like a mummy

a mummified fetus