Crossword clues for languish
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Languish \Lan"guish\, v. i.
To cause to droop or pine. [Obs.]
--Shak.
--Dryden.
Languish \Lan"guish\, n. See Languishment. [Obs. or Poetic]
What, of death, too,
That rids our dogs of languish?
--Shak.
And the blue languish of soft Allia's eye.
--Pope.
Languish \Lan"guish\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Languished; p. pr. & vb. n. Languishing.] [OE. languishen, languissen, F. languir, L. languere; cf. Gr. ? to slacken, ? slack, Icel. lakra to lag behind; prob. akin to E. lag, lax, and perh. to E. slack. See -ish.]
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To become languid or weak; to lose strength or animation; to be or become dull, feeble or spiritless; to pine away; to linger in a weak or deteriorating condition; to wither or fade.
We . . . do languish of such diseases.
--2 Esdras viii. 31.Cease, fond nature, cease thy strife, And let me languish into life.
--Pope.For the fields of Heshbon languish.
--Is. xvi. 8. To assume an expression of weariness or tender grief, appealing for sympathy.
--Tennyson.-
To be neglected and unattended to; as, the proposal languished on the director's desk for months.
Syn: To pine; wither; fade; droop; faint.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
early 14c., "fail in strength, exhibit signs of approaching death," from languiss-, present participle stem of Old French languir "be listless, pine, grieve, fall ill," from Vulgar Latin *languire, from Latin languere "be weak or faint" (see lax). Weaker sense "be lovesick, grieve, lament, grow faint," is from mid-14c. Related: Languished; languishing.
Wiktionary
vb. 1 (context intransitive English) To lose strength and become weak; to be in a state of weakness or sickness. (from 14th c.) 2 (context intransitive English) To pine away in longing for something; to have low spirits, especially from lovesickness. (from 14th c.) 3 (context intransitive English) To live in miserable or disheartening conditions. (from 15th c.) 4 (context intransitive English) To be neglected; to make little progress, be unsuccessful. (from 17th c.) 5 (context transitive obsolete English) To make weak; to weaken, devastate. (15th-17th c.) 6 (context intransitive now rare English) To affect a languid air, especially disingenuously. (from 18th c.)
WordNet
v. lose vigor, health, or flesh, as through grief; "After her husband died, she just pined away" [syn: pine away, waste]
have a desire for something or someone who is not present; "She ached for a cigarette"; "I am pining for my lover" [syn: ache, yearn, yen, pine]
become feeble; "The prisoner has be languishing for years in the dungeon" [syn: fade]
Usage examples of "languish".
Yet who is here today, probably in his warehouse next to the river plotting god knows what, whilst who else languishes in a tank beyond hope of rescue?
The conversation naturally lagged and languished under these circumstances, and Mr.
Hebrew wrapped in a shawl, a beggar of Galilee, a peasant of Jericho, a Midianite languishing beside a well.
He in particular endeavoured to wean his attention from the lost Monimia, by engaging it upon his domestic affairs, and upon the wrongs of his mother and sister, who, he gave him to understand, were languishing under the tyranny of his father-in-law.
He is worth mentioning only because, just as the Rentenmark was coming in, he sold Mama and Matzerath a languishing grocery store ruined by credit, in the suburb of Langfuhr.
But it was either learn to operate cages or languish rockbound for the rest of his life.
He would languish rockbound for the rest of his life, for who would hire a bad-luck captain?
The exorbitancy of his grief, and the mortifications he underwent, soon produced an incurable malady, under which he languished from the month of September in the preceding year till the tenth of August in the present, when he expired.
Half a week hence, we will face the Aurolani host and drive them back into the frozen wastes where they can languish forever.
Katherine sat beside Amelia in the carriage while Blake rode alongside, cutting a dashing figure on a big bay stallion, attracting many raised eyebrows and admiring, languishing feminine glances from behind unfurled fans--none of which were lost on Katherine.
I laid my hand upon her with delight, she gently repulsed me, looking at me with a languishing gaze which made the deepest impression on me.
I found at Munich fleeing from the terrible Leads, where I myself languished for so long.
The idea of giving birth to a child at the convent was too dreadful--I should have languished till I died in a terrible dungeon--and M.
We must leave the Cleland to languish, and hope for more in the spring.
Some of the commandos had gone south to assist Cronje in his stand against Methuen, and the siege languished more and more, until it was woken up by a desperate sortie on December 26th, which caused the greatest loss which the garrison had sustained.