c1384 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Douce 369(2)) 2 Cor. iv. 10 We..beringe aboute the mortifyinge [v.rr. slawȝter; mortifyinge, that is, the dyuerse tourmentynge; a1425 sleyng; L. mortificationem] of Jhesu Crist in oure body.

?a1425 tr. Catherine of Siena Orcherd of Syon (Harl.) (1966) 223 (MED) Þei han put raþir her bisynesse and desier in mortifiinge of þe body þan in distriinge and mortifiinge of her propre wille.

a1500 tr. Thomas à Kempis De Imitatione Christi (Trin. Dublin) (1893) 56 (MED) Þere is non oþer way to lyfe..but þe way of þe holy crosse and of quotidian mortifieng [L. mortificationis].

1530 W. Tyndale Prol. Lev. in Wks. (1573) 14/2 Baptisme signifieth vnto vs repentaunce, and the mortifying of our vnruly members, and bodyes of sinne, to walke in a new life.

1674 J. Owen Serm. in Wks. (1851) ix. 469 If our hearts are not engaged to the mortifying of all sin.

1706 Phillips's New World of Words (new ed.) Necrosis, (in Divinity) a mortifying of corrupt Affections.

1777 Whole Proc. Jockey & Maggy (rev. ed.) ii. 14 That's a better mense for a fault, than a your mortifying o' your members.

1884 Ld. Tennyson Becket v. i. 167 Scourgings, macerations, mortifyings, Fasts, disciplines that clear the spiritual eye.

1899 Good Words Apr. 241 Such is the régime of the table for Lent, and certainly it ought to tend to the mortifying of the flesh.

1600 W. Shakespeare Merchant of Venice i. i. 82 And let my liuer rather heate with wine Then my hart coole with mortifying grones. View more context for this quotation

1638 W. Rawley tr. F. Bacon Hist. Nat. & Exper. Life & Death 118 His Life was Austere and Mortifying.

a1656 A. Gray Spiritual Warfare (1672) iii. 70 A mortifying Christian is a most experienced Christian.

a1697 J. Aubrey Brief Lives (1898) I. 132 Here he had several mortifying and divine motto's.

1706 G. Stanhope Paraphr. Epist. & Gospels III. 517 It will not decline the most mortifying Severities, when used as Expedients to secure his good Graces.

1835 I. Taylor Spiritual Despotism iii. 86 The mortifying purity of the ministers of heaven.

1611 T. Coryate Crudities sig. Xx8 The bones of these virginall Martyrs are kept in seuerall places,..their bones lie in great heaps... But in the bodie of the Church I obserued a farre greater multitude of these mortifying objects.

1666 J. Worthington Let. 11 Sept. in Diary & Corr. (1855) II. i. 212 Such a mortifying sight is worth a journey, that men may be the more convinced of the uncertainty and vanity of things below.

1726 J. Swift Gulliver II. iii. x. 145 They were the most mortifying Sight I ever beheld, and the Women more horrible than the Men.

1756 W. Cowper Wks. (1837) XV. 270 I live in hourly apprehensions of more mortifying adventures.

1833 C. Lamb Stage Illusion in Last Ess. Elia 23 The most mortifying infirmity in human nature..is, perhaps, cowardice.

1879 Expositor 10 166 The disappointment was naturally the more acute and mortifying.

1959 I. Opie & P. Opie Lore & Lang. Schoolchildren ix. 169 Thin people inspire almost as many names and jokes as fat people, but the laughter is less mortifying.

1996 Y. Martel Self 171 I saw Karen transform herself into a whining, cloying kitten.., something mortifying to watch.

1748 S. Richardson Clarissa III. li. 254 How tender, how mortifyingly-tender, now in him!

1853 C. Brontë Villette II. xxviii. 301 What she said..was of a purpose somewhat mortifyingly below the standard of the occasion.

1996 J. Lanchester Debt to Pleasure (1997) 66 My father would take out a mortifyingly dilapidated grey woollen two-piece outfit, a fossil ancestor of the modern tracksuit.