With·er v. i. [imp. & p. p. Withered p. pr. & vb. n. Withering.]
1. To fade; to lose freshness; to become sapless; to become sapless; to dry or shrivel up.
Shall he hot pull up the roots thereof, and cut off the fruit thereof, that it wither? --Ezek. xvii. 9.
2. To lose or want animal moisture; to waste; to pin░ away, as animal bodies.
This is man, old, wrinkled, faded, withered. --Shak.
There was a man which had his hand withered. --Matt. xii. 10.
Now warm in love, now with'ring in the grave. --Dryden.
3. To lose vigor or power; to languish; to pass away. “Names that must not wither.”
States thrive or wither as moons wax and wane. --Cowper.
With·ered a. Faded; dried up; shriveled; wilted; wasted; wasted away. -- With*ered*ness, n.
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withered
adj 1: lean and wrinkled by shrinkage as from age or illness; "the
old woman's shriveled skin"; "he looked shriveled and
ill"; "a shrunken old man"; "a lanky scarecrow of a
man with withered face and lantern jaws"-W.F.Starkie;
"he did well despite his withered arm"; "a wizened
little man with frizzy gray hair" [syn: shriveled, shrivelled,
shrunken, wizen, wizened]
2: (used especially of vegetation) having lost all moisture;
"dried-up grass"; "the desert was edged with sere
vegetation"; "shriveled leaves on the unwatered
seedlings"; "withered vines" [syn: dried-up, sere, sear,
shriveled, shrivelled]