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wither

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)

Origin: OE. Wideren; probably the same word as wederen to weather (see Weather, &); or cf. G. Verwittern to decay, to be weather-beaten, Lith. Vysti to wither.