I. ˈməmē, -mi noun
( -es )
Etymology: Middle English mummie, from Middle French momie, from Medieval Latin mumia, from Arabic mūmiyah mummy, bitumen, from Persian mūm wax
1. : a concoction formerly used as a medicament or drug containing powdered parts of a human or animal body
2.
a. obsolete : lifeless flesh
should have a mountain of mummy — Shakespeare
b. chiefly dialect : a soft pulpy mass
3.
a.
(1) : a body of a human being or other animal embalmed or treated for burial with preservatives after the manner of the ancient Egyptians
(2) : a body unusually well preserved owing to the manner of its burial or to some special preparation for burial
a Peruvian mummy
(3) : a carcass fortuitously preserved (as by being sun-dried)
b. : one resembling a mummy ; especially : a person whose energies have withered
sat like a couple of mummies ever since we left home — Richard Blaker
4. : a brown bituminous artists' pigment of varying properties (as made by grinding the bones of mummies)
5.
a. : congo 4
b. : mummy brown 2b
c. : a moderate yellowish brown that is redder and very slightly darker than Bismarck brown and darker and slightly redder than maple sugar
6. : a dried-up or shriveled fruit first rotted by a fungus
the brown-rot mummies of stone fruits
II. verb
( -ed/-ing/-es )
: mummify
the mummied heath-bells of the past summer — Thomas Hardy
III.
variant of mommy