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Torpefy

Verb

Definition: Make (someone or something) numb, paralysed or lifeless.

Examples: “She is not done with you yet: she has only torpefied your energies a little.”

“I felt a bit like a torpefied Superman a lot of times — Ireland is my Cryptonite, when I’m there I can’t do anything, I have to be outside the country.”

“On my death-bed, I will choose upon your merits as I consider them, whether to return as an electrifying eel, a hoary stickleback or a shoal of quicksilver fish, adept at exploring new routes among the labyrinth passages within the flesh and bones of your torpefied body.”

Origin: Early 19th century: from Latin torpefacere, from torpere ‘be numb or sluggish’.

Published in Dawn, Young World, September 24th, 2016

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