WITHERING • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Withering

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/wˈɪðərɪŋ/ Listen

verb

Wither v. t.

1.

To cause to fade, and become dry. "The sun is no sooner risen with a burning heat, but it withereth the grass, and the flower thereof falleth."

2.

To cause to shrink, wrinkle, or decay, for want of animal moisture. "Age can not wither her." "Shot forth pernicious fire Among the accursed, that withered all their strength."

3.

To cause to languish, perish, or pass away; to blight; as, a reputation withered by calumny. "The passions and the cares that wither life."

Wither v. i. (past & past part. withered; pres. part. 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?"

2.

To lose or want animal moisture; to waste. "This is man, old, wrinkled, faded, withered." "There was a man which had his hand withered." "Now warm in love, now with'ring in the grave."

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."

adjective

Withering adj. Tending to wither; causing to shrink or fade.

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Etymology of 'Withering'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Withering" Quotes from Famous Books

... which had roared through a withering gale of sleet all the way up from New York, came to a standstill, with many an ear-splitting sigh, alongside the little station, and a reluctant porter opened his vestibule door to descend to the snow-swept ...

— The Hollow of Her Hand • George Barr McCutcheon

... fiery winds of Desolation flow; Father of vengeance, that with purple feet Like a full wine-press tread'st the world below; The embattled armies wait thy sign to slay, Nor springs the beast of havoc on his prey, Nor withering Famine walks his blasted way, Till thou hast marked the guilty ...

— The World's Best Poetry Volume IV. • Bliss Carman

... smilingly. The smooth working order into which everything fell at once contrasted pleasantly with the anxious bustle of the entry in April. A glorious autumn was settling on the hills, draping them from head to foot with a red mantle of the withering bracken, which slowly burnt itself out along their slopes. There was sun and daylight enough for many rambles along old paths or new ones before the year was ...

— Uppingham by the Sea - a Narrative of the Year at Borth • John Henry Skrine

... Death, meanwhile, made a withering havoc among his followers; and under the sheds and hovels that shielded them from the sun lay a score of wretches slowly wasting away with the diseases contracted at St. Domingo. Of the soldiers enlisted for the ...

— France and England in North America, a Series of Historical Narratives, Part Third • Francis Parkman

... better, chiefly wishing that all men were as himself was. But I being weak, chose the more indulgent place; and because of this alone, was tossed up and down in all beside, faint and wasted with withering cares, because in other matters I was constrained against my will to conform myself to a married life, to which I was given up and enthralled. I had heard from the mouth of the Truth, that there were some eunuchs ...

— The Confessions of Saint Augustine • Saint Augustine

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