Webster
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Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Wither

With′er (wĭt͟′ẽr), 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.]

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 pine 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." Byron.

States thrive or wither as moons wax and wane. Cowper.

With′er, 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. James i. 11.

2. To cause to shrink, wrinkle, or decay, for want of animal moisture. "Age can not wither her." Shak.

Shot forth pernicious fire Among the accursed, that withered all their strength. Milton.

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. Bryant.

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Noah Porter, editor (Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913). Public domain. Text as transcribed by MICRA, Inc., from Project Gutenberg. Changed for Deep Dive Bible: Greek, which our source spelled in Latin letters, set in Greek letters; entries of one spelling merged into one article; Greek words our source left out (shown as “?”), read from the 1898 printing, from the same plates (the Library of Congress’s copy), where the place could be found with certainty. Of the others, 1,362 (a word or a single letter each) were inferred by AI from the context by the dictionary’s own rules and are marked with a wavy underline (tap or point at one to see the note); the rest, which could not be inferred with confidence, are left as “?”.