PU'TREFY, verb transitive [Latin putrefacio; putris, putrid, and facio, to make.]

1. To cause to dissolve; to disorganize and reduce to the simple constituent elements, as animal or vegetable bodies; to cause to rot. Heat and moisture soon putrefy dead flesh or vegetables.

2. To corrupt; to make foul; as, to putrefy the air. [Little used.]

3. To make morbid, carious or gangrenous; as, to putrefy an ulcer or wound.

PU'TREFY, verb intransitive To dissolve and return to the original distinct elements, as animal and vegetable substances deprived of the living principle; to rot.