What Does Perish the Thought Mean?
Perish the thought is a standalone phrase used to tell someone not to even think about a negative thing; a wish that something negative mentioned will never happen; a wish that a thought will never become fact or reality.
Similar to the idioms God forbid and don’t even go there.
Sentence Examples
“If I die before you, I don’t want you to be sad and depressed. I want you to find someone else and be happy,” said Moriss. “Perish the thought!” replied Denise.
“Perish the thought of him ever becoming president again.”
“I can’t imagine having to do this whole project over again. Perish the thought!“
“Perish the thought that the whole war effort of the country should be prejudiced by betraying a military secret of that sort!” — Hansard archive
“I would never leave you! Perish the thought!”
So, if you would be just so kind and show me the way. Show you the way? Perish the thought! We shall fly to Paris on a magic carpet…” — The AristoCats (1970)
“We thought we heard you leave. Perish the thought, dear aunties. That was just Mortimer.” — Arsenic and Old Lace (1944)
“Pity they didn’t teach you German at that school of yours. Instead of Latin? Perish the thought, old boy.” — Force 10 from Navarone (1978)
“What if we run out of coffee before the meeting starts?” “Perish the thought, I’ll go buy an extra bag now.”
Origin of Perish the Thought
The idiom perish the thought originated in the theater, specifically in Colley Cibber’s 1700 adaptation of William Shakespeare’s Richard III.
While Shakespeare wrote the original play, Cibber famously rewrote large portions of it to make it more dramatic for 18th-century audiences. In Act 5, Scene 3, as King Richard wakes from a nightmare on the eve of battle, he cries out:
“Perish the thought! No, never be it said, That Fate itself could awe the Soul of Richard.”
Cibber’s version of the play was so popular that it actually replaced Shakespeare’s original on the English stage for nearly 150 years. This is almost certainly how the phrase entered the general household vocabulary—it was a “movie line” that everyone knew.
Transition to “High Art”
Nearly 50 years after Cibber’s play premiered, the phrase was picked up in “high art” circles. It appeared in print in 1748 within the libretto for Handel’s oratorio Joshua, written by Thomas Morell:
“It never shall be said that our allies in vain implor’d our aid. Perish the thought!”
By the late 1800s, the phrase was in regular everyday use. The word perish is used here in its literal sense—meaning to die or cease to exist—essentially telling a negative idea to “die” before it can become a reality.