Definition of "putrefy"

putrefy

/ˈpjutɹəfaɪ/

verb
third-person singular simple present putrefies, present participle putrefying, simple past and past participle putrefied
1. To become filled with a pus-like or bile-like substance.
2. To reach an advanced stage of decomposition.
3. To become gangrenous.
4. To make morbid, carious, or gangrenous.
5. To corrupt; to make foul.
  Quotations
  Private suits do putrefy the public good.
  1625, Francis [Bacon], “Of Suitors”, in The Essayes […], 3rd edition, London: […] Iohn Haviland for Hanna Barret
  They would but stink, and putrefy the air.
  c. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Fourth, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act IV, scene vii]