perish [ME] To perish is literally to ‘pass away’ or ‘go away’—that is the meaning of the source, Latin perire, formed from per- ‘through, completely’ and ire ‘go’. A mischievous or awkward person, especially a child, has been a perisher since the end of the 19th century. Shakespeare’s plays have not always been popular. From the later 17th century people preferred them in updated form, often with wholly inappropriate happy endings. In 1700 the English comic actor, dramatist, and theatre manager Colley Cibber brought out a rewritten version of Shakespeare’s Richard III. Its only claim to fame is that it gave English perish the thought.