WITHER

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does wither mean? 

• WITHER (verb)
  The verb WITHER has 2 senses:

1. wither, as with a loss of moisture

2. lose freshness, vigor, or vitality

  Familiarity information: WITHER used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• WITHER (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they wither    ... he / she / it withers   
Past simple: withered   
Past participle: withered   
-ing form: withering   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Wither, as with a loss of moisture

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

shrink; shrivel; shrivel up; wither

Context example:

The fruit dried and shriveled

Hypernyms (to "wither" is one way to...):

decrease; diminish; fall; lessen (decrease in size, extent, or range)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "wither"):

atrophy (undergo atrophy)

blast (shrivel or wither or mature imperfectly)

die back; die down (suffer from a disease that kills shoots)

dry up; mummify (dry up and shrivel due to complete loss of moisture)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

Sense 2

Meaning:

Lose freshness, vigor, or vitality

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

fade; wither

Context example:

Her bloom was fading

Hypernyms (to "wither" is one way to...):

disappear; go away; vanish (get lost, as without warning or explanation)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Somebody ----s

Derivation:

withering (any weakening or degeneration (especially through lack of use))

 Context examples 

The leaves of that year had withered before my work drew near to a close, and now every day showed me more plainly how well I had succeeded.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

It will be cold and bitter, Watson, and a good many of us may wither before its blast.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

She is in a garden; and near her stands a sharp, dark, withered woman, with a white scar on her lip.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

She wished her hand had withered before she had done so.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

He scowled at Zilla, whose withered lips were again writhing into speech, and compelled her to silence.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

When the dance was at an end she curtsied; and when the king looked round for her, she was gone, no one knew wither.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

Topline slopes upward from the withers to the loin.

(Old English Sheepdog, NCI Thesaurus)

For answer the man stretched out his long withered arm, and placed a gaunt hand upon the shoulder of the actress, whilst she looked up at him with love in her eyes.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The scorching torrent was enough to wither the face of the corpse.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

I had rather that hand withered and tongue was palsied ere I had struck or miscalled you.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)