Withering

4 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Wither \With"er\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. {Withered}; p. pr. & vb.
     n. {Withering}.] [OE. wideren; probably the same word as
     wederen to weather (see {Weather}, v. & n.); or cf. G.
     verwittern to decay, to be weather-beaten, Lith. vysti to
     wither.]
     [1913 Webster]


     1. To fade; to lose freshness; to become sapless; to become
        sapless; to dry or shrivel up.
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              Shall he hot pull up the roots thereof, and cut off
              the fruit thereof, that it wither?    --Ezek. xvii.
                                                    9.
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     2. To lose or want animal moisture; to waste; to pin? away,
        as animal bodies.
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              This is man, old, wrinkled, faded, withered. --Shak.
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              There was a man which had his hand withered. --Matt.
                                                    xii. 10.
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              Now warm in love, now with'ring in the grave.
                                                    --Dryden.
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     3. To lose vigor or power; to languish; to pass away. "Names
        that must not wither." --Byron.
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              States thrive or wither as moons wax and wane.
                                                    --Cowper.
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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Withering \With"er*ing\, a.
     Tending to wither; causing to shrink or fade. --
     {With"er*ing*ly}, adv.
     [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  withering
       adj 1: wreaking or capable of wreaking complete destruction;
              "possessing annihilative power"; "a devastating
              hurricane"; "the guns opened a withering fire" [syn: {annihilative},
               {annihilating}, {devastating}]
       2: making light of; "afire with annihilating invective"; "a
          devastating portrait of human folly"; "to compliments
          inflated I've a withering reply"- W.S.Gilbert [syn: {annihilating},
           {devastating}]
       n : any weakening or degeneration (especially through lack of
           use) [syn: {atrophy}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  142 Moby Thesaurus words for "withering":
     Sanforizing, acerb, acerbate, acerbic, acid, acidic, acidulent,
     acidulous, acrid, acrimonious, air-drying, anhydration, arrogant,
     atrophy, attenuation, baneful, biting, bitter, calamitous,
     cataclysmal, cataclysmic, catastrophic, caustic, clannish,
     cliquish, coming apart, consuming, consumption, consumptive,
     contemptuous, contumelious, corroding, corrosive, cracking,
     crumbling, cutting, deadly, decadent, declining, degenerate,
     dehumidification, dehydration, demolishing, demolitionary,
     depredatory, desiccation, desolating, destroying, destructive,
     deteriorating, devastating, disastrous, disdainful, disintegrating,
     doomful, drainage, draining, drooping, drying, drying up,
     dwindling, ebbing, effete, emaceration, emaciation, evaporation,
     exclusive, fading, failing, falling, fatal, fateful, flagging,
     fragmenting, fratricidal, going to pieces, haughty, incisive,
     insolation, internecine, keen, languishing, marcescence,
     marcescent, mordacious, mordant, mummification, nihilist,
     nihilistic, parching, penetrating, piercing, pining, preshrinkage,
     ravaging, regressive, retrograde, retrogressive, ruining, ruinous,
     scathing, scorching, scornful, searing, self-destructive, sharp,
     shrinkage, shrinking, shriveling, sinking, sliding, slipping,
     slumping, sneering, sniffy, snobbish, snobby, snooty, snotty,
     stabbing, stinging, subsiding, subversionary, subversive, suicidal,
     supercilious, tabetic, tart, thinning, toploftical, toplofty,
     trenchant, vandalic, vandalish, vandalistic, waning, wastage,
     waste, wasteful, wasting, wilting, worsening