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/lˈæŋgwɪʃ/ Listen

verb

Languish v. i. (past & past part. languished; pres. part. languishing)

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." "Cease, fond nature, cease thy strife, And let me languish into life." "For the fields of Heshbon languish."

To assume an expression of weariness or tender grief, appealing for sympathy.

To be neglected and unattended to; as, the proposal languished on the director's desk for months.

Synonyms: To pine; wither; fade; droop; faint.

Languish v. i. To cause to droop or pine. (Obs.)

noun

Languish n. See Languishment. (Obs. or Poetic) "What, of death, too, That rids our dogs of languish?" "And the blue languish of soft Allia's eye."

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Etymology of 'Languish'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Languish" Quotes from Famous Books

... it hap," quoth ESHER, M.R., "That Solicitors languish for lack of bread? That want of cases, as felt by the Bar, To cases of want has recently led? Oh, how does it come, and why, and whence, That men shun the Law ...

— Punch, Or The London Charivari, Vol. 100. February 21, 1891 • Various

... the North-West Company {67} met at Fort William in the month of July 1814. Their fond hope had been that Lord Selkirk's colony would languish and die. Instead, it was flourishing and waxing aggressive. The governor of Assiniboia had published an edict which he seemed determined to enforce, to the ruin of the business of the North-West Company. The grizzled partners, as they rubbed elbows in secret conclave, decided that something ...

— The Red River Colony - A Chronicle of the Beginnings of Manitoba • Louis Aubrey Wood

... garlic growing, delved radishes, culled chervil and all herbs, bought parched barley, and (for not yet had the meadows reached the redolency that tempts the ten toes)-so to mule-back again; whence this tenderness behind. And now I walk with pain, and the sweat runs down; my bones languish, and yearn for the longest of water-swims; 'tis ever my joy to ...

— Works, V2 • Lucian of Samosata

... residents of Hull-House place increasing emphasis upon the great inspirations and solaces of literature and are unwilling that it should ever languish as a subject for class instruction or for reading parties. The Shakespeare club has lived a continuous existence at Hull-House for sixteen years during which time its members have heard the leading ...

— Twenty Years At Hull House • Jane Addams

... trouble of writing, where the Mistres and Servant are learned in this amorous blazon. Yesterday I wore Folimort, Grisdelin and Isabella: Folimort is withered, Grisdelin is absent, and Isabella is beauty, which put together express I did wither or languish ...

— A Collection of Old English Plays, Vol. II • Various

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