languish
English
WOTD – 29 November 2009
Etymology
Borrowed from the present participle stem of Anglo-Norman and Middle French languir, from Late Latin *languire, alteration of Latin languēre (“to be faint, unwell”).
Verb
languish (third-person singular simple present languishes, present participle languishing, simple past and past participle languished)
- (intransitive) To lose strength and become weak; to be in a state of weakness or sickness. [from 14th c.]
- Bible, 2 Esdras viii. 31
- We […] do languish of such diseases.
- Bible, 2 Esdras viii. 31
- (intransitive) To pine away in longing for something; to have low spirits, especially from lovesickness. [from 14th c.]
- He languished without his girlfriend
- (intransitive) To live in miserable or disheartening conditions. [from 15th c.]
- He languished in prison for years
- (intransitive) To be neglected; to make little progress, be unsuccessful. [from 17th c.]
- The case languished for years before coming to trial.
- (transitive, obsolete) To make weak; to weaken, devastate. [15th-17th c.]
- (intransitive, now rare) To affect a languid air, especially disingenuously. [from 18th c.]
- 1815, Jane Austen, Emma
- He is an excellent young man, and will suit Harriet exactly: it will be an "exactly so," as he says himself; but he does sigh and languish, and study for compliments rather more than I could endure as a principal.
- a. 1833, Alfred, Lord Tennyson, “Eleänore”, in Poems, page 31:
- His bowstring slackened, languid Love, / Leaning his cheek upon his hand, / Droops both his wings, regarding thee, / And so would languish evermore, / Serene, imperial Eleänore.
- 1815, Jane Austen, Emma
Related terms
Translations
to lose strength and become weak
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to pine away with longing
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to live in miserable conditions
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to be neglected, to make little progress
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