Wither

//ˈwɪðɚ// adv, name, noun, verb

adv, name, noun, verb ·Moderate ·High school level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    singular of withers (“part of the back of a four-legged animal that is between the shoulder blades”) form-of, singular

    "Timozel had slid his feet quickly from the stirrups and swung his leg over the horse's wither as it slumped to the ground, standing himself in one graceful movement."

Verb
  1. 1
    To shrivel, droop or dry up, especially from lack of water. intransitive

    "The flowers began to wither in the hot sun without enough water."

  2. 2
    To go against, resist; oppose.
  3. 3
    wither, as with a loss of moisture wordnet
  4. 4
    To cause to shrivel or dry up. transitive

    "There was a man which had his hand withered."

  5. 5
    lose freshness, vigor, or vitality wordnet
Show 3 more definitions
  1. 6
    To lose vigour or power; to languish; to waste away; to pass away. figuratively, intransitive

    "names that must not wither"

  2. 7
    To become helpless due to emotion. intransitive
  3. 8
    To make helpless due to emotion. transitive
Adverb
  1. 1
    Against, in opposition to. in-compounds, obsolete
Proper Noun
  1. 1
    A surname.

Synonyms

All synonyms
fadeshriveldecayageair-dryanhydrate

Example

More examples

"Oh luck! Like the moon, you steadily change, you always grow and then wither again."

Etymology

Etymology 1

From Middle English widren, wydderen (“to dry up, shrivel”), related to or perhaps an alteration of Middle English wederen (“to expose to weather”), from Old English wederian (“to expose to weather, exhibit a change of weather”). Cognates From Proto-Germanic: Dutch verwederen, Dutch verweren (“to erode by weather”), German verwittern, wittern (“to be ruined by weather; to erode”), Swedish vittra (“wither”). More at weather.

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Etymology 3

From Middle English wither, from Old English wiþer (“again, against”, adverb in compounds), from Proto-West Germanic *wiþr (“against, toward”). Cognates From Proto-Germanic: Low German wedder (“against”), Dutch weer (“again, back”), German wider (“against, contrary to”), German wieder (“again”), Gothic 𐍅𐌹𐌸𐍂𐌰 (wiþra), Old Norse viðr. More at with.

Etymology 4

From Middle English witheren, from Old English wiþerian (“to resist, oppose, struggle against”). Cognates From Proto-Germanic: Middle Dutch wideren, Old High German widarōn.

Related phrases

wither awaywither on the vinewither-wrungdry upin returnshrivel up

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.