mummify
/ˈmʌmɪfʌɪ
/verb (mummifies, mummifying mummified) [with object] (usually as adjective mummified)
1(Especially in ancient Egypt) preserve (a body) by embalming and wrapping it in cloth: the mummified bodies entombed in the pyramids...
- In ancient Egypt, people were mummified in order to help them attain eternal life.
- This explains why the Egyptians mummified the dead: so that the ka, on its return, would find the body not decomposed.
- More than 2,000 years ago, a roll of papyrus with extensive writings was enshrouded with a body that was mummified for preservation.
1.1Dry up (a body) and so preserve it: the bodies of prehistoric men, mummified by the effect of the acid in the bog water...
- The shoe specialist has been studying the shoes found on the feet of a prehistoric iceman whose mummified body was found in an Alpine glacier in 1991.
- The Napartulik fossils are mummified (compressed and desiccated) plant remains that were buried in a freshwater, low-oxygen environment that limited decay.
- This fungus causes fruit to shrivel and mummify.
Derivatives
mummification
/ noun ...- The remains of Pleistocene mammals in Alaska and Siberia have been discovered in permafrost, which resulted in the body tissue being preserved through desiccation-induced mummification.
- The team has concluded - based on the identification of at least five different types of embalming material - that great care was taken in the mummification of this king.
- He also found that date palm wine was used in the sterilisation of the body and organs during mummification and aromatic spices were used in the embalming.