Quick Definition
ἀπόλλυμι v. I destroy, lose, am perishing
Strong's Definition
from 575 and the base of 3639; to destroy fully (reflexively, to perish, or lose), literally or figuratively
KJV Usage: destroy, die, lose, mar, perish
UBS Dictionary of the Greek New Testament
verb | fut. ἀπολέσω, ἀπολῶ · aor. ἀπώλεσα · subj.3sg. ἀπολέσῃ · inf. ἀπολέσαι · pf.ptc. ἀπολωλώς · fut.midd. ἀπολοῦμαι · aor.midd. ἀπωλόμην | ὄλλυμι (destroy) · ὄλεθρος
20.31 · Violence, Harm, Destroy, Kill · Destroy
to ruin, to destroy, destruction to destroy or to cause the destruction of persons, objects, or institutions In a number of languages it is difficult to find a general term for ‘destruction.’ What has often happened is the extension of meaning from a more specific type of reference, for example, ‘to smash,’ to a more generic meaning of ‘to destroy,’ and whether one understands the specific or more generic meaning depends largely upon the context. Accordingly, in ACT 8:3 one may find a figurative usage of a term meaning ‘to smash’ (though understood in a more generic sense), for example, ‘Saul then worked in order to smash the church.’
MAT 2:13 · MAT 9:17 · MAT 10:28 · MAT 12:14 · MAT 21:41 · MAT 22:7 · MAT 27:20 · MRK 1:24 · MRK 2:22 · MRK 3:6 · MRK 9:22 · MRK 11:18 · MRK 12:9 · LUK 4:34 · LUK 5:37 · LUK 6:9 · LUK 11:51 · LUK 13:3 · LUK 13:33 · LUK 17:27 · LUK 17:29 · LUK 19:47 · LUK 20:16 · JHN 6:27 · JHN 10:10 · JHN 11:50 · JHN 17:12 · ACT 5:37 · ROM 14:15 · 1CO 1:19 · 1CO 8:11 · 2CO 4:3 · 2CO 4:9 · 2TH 2:10 · HEB 1:11 · JAS 1:11 · JAS 4:12 · JUD 1:5
57.67 · Possess, Transfer, Exchange · Take, Obtain, Gain, Lose
to not obtain, to fail to get to fail to obtain a valued object
57.68 · Possess, Transfer, Exchange · Take, Obtain, Gain, Lose
to lose to lose something which one already possesses ἀπόλλυμι in the sense of losing what one already possesses may be analyzed basically as ‘not to have that which one has previously had.’ There is, however, no suggestion in ἀπόλλυμι[c] as to the particular type of circumstances involved in the loss, whether, for example, from neglect, by accident, or as the result of some external force.
It is also possible to interpret ἀπόλλυμι in LUK 15:8 as ‘to not know where something is’ (see 27.29).
MAT 5:29 · MAT 5:30 · MAT 10:39 · MAT 16:25 · MRK 8:35 · LUK 9:25 · LUK 15:4 · LUK 15:8 · LUK 15:9 · LUK 15:24 · LUK 15:32 · LUK 17:33 · LUK 17:33 · JHN 6:39 · JHN 12:25 · JHN 18:9 · ACT 27:34 · 2JN 1:8
27.29 · Learn · Learn the Location of Something
to lose, to no longer know where something is to become unaware of the location of something It is also possible to interpret ἀπόλλυμι in LUK 15:4 as meaning a loss of possession (see 57.68)
MAT 10:6 · MAT 15:24 · LUK 9:24 · LUK 15:4 · LUK 15:6 · LUK 15:8 · LUK 21:18
23.114 · Physiological Processes and States · Live, Die
Collocation: ἀπόλλυμι τὴν ψυχήν
to experience the loss of life, to die an idiom, literally: to suffer the destruction of one’s life, or: to have one’s life destroyed In MAT 10:39 some scholars see in the use of ψυχή a reference not to physical life but to a particular quality of life. This is difficult to justify except in terms of the total context, and it may be that in MAT 10:39 there is a degree of intentional ambiguity with respect to the meaning of ψυχή.
23.106 · (ἀπόλλυμαι) · Physiological Processes and States · Live, Die
to die, to perish to die, with the implication of ruin and destruction It is possible to understand ἀπόλλυμαι in LUK 15:17 as involving a measure of exaggeration.
MAT 8:25 · MAT 26:52 · MRK 4:38 · LUK 8:24 · LUK 15:17 · 1CO 10:9 · 1CO 10:10
13.96 · (ἀπόλλυμαι) · Be, Become, Exist, Happen · Exist
to cease to exist, to no longer exist, to come to an end, to disappear to cease to exist, with a possible implication of violent means
1 ἀπόλλυμι[d] may be regarded as a type of semantic reversive of εὑρίσκω[a] to find (27.27). In other words, εὑρίσκω[a] means to learn the location of something and ἀπόλλυμι[d] would mean to come to no longer know the location of something. 2 1PE 1:7 It is possible that ἀπόλλυμαι in 1PE 1:7 should be understood as to be destroyed (see ἀπόλλυμι[a] to destroy, 20.31), but in this context it appears to have a more generic meaning.
UBS Dictionary of the Greek New Testament © United Bible Societies, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Mounce Concise Greek Dictionary
ἀπόλλυμι apollymi 90x
to destroy utterly; to kill, Mt. 2:13; to bring to nought, make void, 1 Cor. 1:19; to lose, be deprived of, Mt. 10:42; to be destroyed, perish, Mt. 9:17; to be put to death, to die, Mt. 26:52; to be lost, to stray, Mt. 10:6
Abbott-Smith Greek Lexicon
ἀπ-όλλυμι and ἀπολλύω,
[in LXX for אבד, etc. (38 words in all)].
Act., to destroy utterly, destroy, kill: Mk 1:24, 9:22, al.; τ. ψνχήν, Mt 10:28, al.;
to lose utterly: Mt 10:42, al.; metaph., of failing to save, Jo 6:39 18:9.
Mid., to perish; of things: Mt 5:29, Jo 6:12, He 1:11(LXX), al.;
of persons: Mt 8:26, al. Metaph., of loss of eternal life, Jo 3:15, 16 10:28 17:12, Ro 2:12, I Co 8:11 15:18, II Pe 3:9. In οἱ ἀπολλύμενοι, the perishing, contrasted in I Co 1:18, al., with οἱ σωζόμενοι, the "perfective" force of the verb, wh. "implies the completion of the process of destruction," is illustrated (v. M, Pr., 114 f.; M, Th., ii, 2:10);
to be lost: Lk 15:4 21:18. Metaph., on the basis of the relation between shepherd and flock, of spiritual destitution and alienation from God: Mt 10:6 15:24, Lk 19:10 (MM, s.v.; DCG, i, 191 f., ii, 76, 554; Cremer, 451).
Moulton & Milligan — Vocabulary of the Greek NT
ἀπόλλυμι. One or two instances of the literal use of this common verb will suffice—P Petr III. 51° τὸ ἀργύριον ὃ ὥιοντο ἀπολωλέναι, “the money which they thought had been lost,” P Oxy IV. 743°% (B.c. 2) ἐγὼ ὅλος διαπον[ο]ῦμαι εἰ Ἕλενος χαλκοῦς ἀπόλε[σ]εν, “1 am quite upset at Helenos’ loss of the money” (Edd.). In P Fay 111° (a.p. 95-6) we have it of destroying life: μένφομαί σαι μεγάλως ἀπολέσας X[v]piSia δύω ἀπὸ τοῦ ckvApod τῆς ὡδοῦ, “1 blame you greatly for the loss of two pigs owing to the fatigue of the journey” (Edd.). (Probably the writer meant ἀπολέσαντα, but the nom. will construe.) So in the dreams of Ptolemy, son of Glaucias, the helper of the Temple twins, P Par 50° (p.c. 160) Λέγω: Μηθαμῶς ἐργῇς (?) ἢ ἀπολέσῃ σου τὸν παῖδα’ κύριος οὐκ ἀπολύει (-- ἀπολλύει, presumably) τὸν αὑτοῦ παῖδα. Cf. P Petr III. 36 (a) verso*® δεόμενος μή pe ἀπολέσηι τῶι λιμῶι ἐν τῆι φυλακῆι : so Lk 1517. In the curious nursery acrostic, P Tebt II. 2785. belonging to early i/A.D. in which the story of the loss of a garment is told in lines beginning with the letters of the alphabet in order, we find : λέων ὃ ἄρας μωρὸς ἀπολέσας ἐέᾳ lion he was who took it, a fool who lost it” (Edd., who would read ὃ @., as in the other lines). In P Ryl II. 141%4 (A.D. 37) Kal ἀπώλεσα ἃς εἶχον ἀπὸ τιμ(ῆς) ὀπίου ““1 lost 40 silver drachmae which I had with me from the sale of opium” (Id.), it connotes robbery; and so in Sy// 2377 (iii/B.C.) χρήματα τῶι θεῶι ἐμάνυσαν ἃ ἦσαν ἐκ τοῦ ἱεροῦ ἀπολωτα (4. ἀπολωλότα) ἀπὸ τοῦ ἀναθέματος τῶν Φωκέων, καὶ ἐξήλεγξαν τοὺς ἱεροσυληκότας. The -μι forms of the mid. are unchanged: thus P Petr Il. 4 (1)" (B.c. 255-4) γυνὶ δὲ ἀπολλύμεθα (quarrymen ‘‘worked to death” over exceedingly hard stone), P Tebt 11. 2787® (see above) ἀπόλλυται, etc. ’ , απολυω
Liddell-Scott-Jones — Greek-English Lexicon
ἀπολλύω (apolluō) — to destroy. Included with: ἀπόλλῡμι or ἀπολλύω [Refs 5th c.BC+]; the form is rejected by [Refs 5th c.BC+], imperfect ἀπώλλυν[Refs 5th c.BC+]future ἀπολέσω, Epic dialect ἀπολέσσω, Attic dialect ἀπολῶ, Ionic dialect ἀπολέω[Refs 5th c.BC+]aorist ἀπώλεσα, Epic dialect ἀπόλεσσα: perfect ἀπολώλεκα:—frequently in tmesi in Epic dialect; preposition postponed in [Refs 8th c.BC+] —stronger form of ὄλλυμι, destroy utterly, kill, in [Refs 8th c.BC+] mostly of death in battle, ἀπώλεσε λαὸν Ἀχαιῶν[Refs]; also of things, demolish, lay waste, ἀπώλεσεν Ἴλιον ἱρήν [Refs], etc.; generally, βίοτον δ᾽ ἀπὸ πάμπαν ὀλέσσει will waste my substance, [Refs 8th c.BC+]; οἵ μ᾽ ἀπωλλύτην sought to destroy me (imperfect sense), [Refs 5th c.BC+]; in pregnant sense, ἐπεί με γᾶς ἐκ πατρίας ἀπώλεσε drove me ruined from.., [Refs 5th c.BC+]; τῆς παρ᾽ ἡμέραν χάριτος τὰ μέγιστα τῆς πόλεως ἀ. for the sake of.., [Refs 4th c.BC+]
2. λόγοις or λέγων ἀ. τινά talk or bore one to death, [Refs 5th c.BC+]: hence, alone, in future ἀπολεῖς με[Refs 5th c.BC+]; ἀπολεῖ μ᾽ οὑτοσί by his questions, [Refs 4th c.BC+]
3. ruin a woman, [Refs 5th c.BC+]
II. lose, πατέρ᾽ ἐσθλὸν ἀπώλεσα[Refs 8th c.BC+]; ἀπὸ θυμὸν ὀλέσσαι lose one's life,[Refs 8th c.BC+]; θυμὸν οὐκ ἀπώλεσεν loses not his spirit, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; frequently of things, ἡ τοῦ πλέονος ἐπιθυμίη τὸ παρεὸν ἀπόλλυσι[Refs 5th c.BC+]; ἀ. οὐσίαν, ={ἀπόλλυσθαι}, [Refs] __B middle, ἀπόλλῠμαι: future -ολοῦμαι, Ionic dialect -ολέομαι[Refs 5th c.BC+]aorist 2 -ωλόμην: perfect -όλωλα, whence the barbarous imperfect ἀπόλωλο[Refs 5th c.BC+]pluperfect in Attic dialect Prose sometimes written ἀπωλώλειν in codices, as [Refs 5th c.BC+]:—perish, die, [Refs], etc.; cease to exist, opposed to γίγνεσθαι, [Refs 8th c.BC+]; simply, to be undone, αὐτῶν.. ἀπωλόμεθ᾽ ἀφραδίῃσιν[Refs 8th c.BC+]perfect, ἀπόλωλας you are lost, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; ἀπολλύμενος, opposed to σῳζόμενος, [Refs 5th c.BC+]participle future, κάκιστ᾽ ἀπολούμενε o destined to a miserable end! i.e. o thou villain, scoundrel, knave! [Refs 5th c.BC+] __B.2 in NT, perish, in theol. sense, [NT]; οἱ ἀπολλύμενοι, opposed to οἱ σῳζόμενοι, [NT] __B.II to be lost, ὕδωρ ἀπολέσκετ᾽ (of the water eluding Tantalus) [Refs 8th c.BC+]; οὔποτε καρπὸς ἀπόλλυται never falls untimely,[LXX+8th c.BC+]