▪ I. languish, n.
(ˈlæŋgwɪʃ)
[f. the verb.]
1. The action or state of languishing.
| c 1380 Wyclif Serm. Sel. Wks. I. 198 Crist was..occupied in heeling of syke men and men þat were in languishe. 1382 ― Luke iv. 40 Sike men with dyuerse langwischingis [v.r. languyschis, languisches]. 1485 Caxton Chas. Gt. 233 Of the languysshe that was comynge to Charles, he wyste not, how sone it was comyng. 1562 T. Phaer æneid ix. B b iij b, The purple floure that..In languish withering dies. 1592 Shakes. Rom. & Jul. i. ii. 49 One desparate greefe cures with anothers languish. 1613–16 W. Browne Brit. Past. i. i. 11 Faire Nymph, surcease this death-alluring languish. 1682 T. A. Carolina 19 It..being..admirable in the languishes of the Spirit Faintings. 1718 Entertainer xix. 129 Religion is upon the Languish, and only the Ghost of Godliness remains. 1833 Hartley Coleridge Poems I. 118 A long record of perishable languish. |
2. A tender look or glance.
| 1715–20 Pope Iliad xviii. 50 The blue languish of soft Alia's eye. 1728–46 Thomson Spring 949 Then forth he walks, Beneath the trembling languish of her beam. 1802 W. Irving Lett. J. Oldstyle (1824) 19 An arch glance in one box was rivalled by a smile in another;..and in a fourth a most bewitching languish carried all before it. |
▪ II. † ˈlanguish, a. Obs. rare—0.
[? f. the vb.]
Languishing, sickly.
| 1552 Huloet, Languyshe to be, langueo. 1660 Hexham, een Vlockaert, a Pyning or a Languish man. |
▪ III. languish, v.
(ˈlæŋgwɪʃ)
Forms: 4 languis, -uysce, 4–5 -uess(e, -uysh(e, -uysch(e, -wiss(e, -wys(se, -wisch(e, -wis(s)h(e, -usch(e, -ussh(e, 4–6 -uiss(e, -uissh(e, (6 language), 4– languish.
[a. F. languiss-, languir, = Pr., Sp., Pg. languir, It. languire:—popular L. *languīre for class. L. languē-re (inchoative languēscĕre); perh. cogn. w. L. lax-us (see lax a.) and Teut. *slako- slack a.]
1. intr. Of living beings (also of plants or vegetation): To grow weak, faint, or feeble: to lose health, have one's vitality impaired; to continue in a state of feebleness and suffering. † In early use often: To be sick (const. of).
| a 1300 Cursor M. 14138 In his sekenes he languist sua, Þat he na fote had might to ga. c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. Wace (Rolls) 9550 Bedrede doun ful longe he lay, & languissed so forþ fro day to day. 1382 Wyclif Dan. viii. 27 And Y, Danyel, languyshide, and was seeke by ful manye days. 1494 Fabyan Chron. 651 He lastly fell in a greuouse sykenesse..And so languysshynge by the space of thre yeres more before he dyed. 1601 Shakes. All's Well i. i. 37 What is it..the King languishes of? Laf. A Fistula, my Lord. 1635 R. Bolton Comf. Affl. Consc. v. (ed. 2) 202 Some for the losse of an over-loved child have languished, fallen into a consumption and lost their owne lives. 1744 Berkeley Siris §77 Those who had been cured by evacuations often languished long. 1759 tr. Duhamel's Husb. ii. i. (1762) 123 Observing one day a tuft of wheat which languished. 1783 Crabbe Village i. 141 Health, Labour's fair child, that languishes with wealth. 1798 Ferriar Illustr. Sterne ii. 24 He wrote for the recreation of persons languishing in sickness. 1850 A. Jameson Leg. Monast. Ord. (1863) 197 It was said of him that he did not live, but languished through life. 1865 Kingsley Herew. xiv. 180 He lies languishing of wounds. |
| fig. 1652–62 Heylin Cosmogr. iv. (1682) 26 It began to languish, and was at last reduced to nothing but a few scattered Houses. 1882 C. Pebody Eng. Journalism xviii. 134 The Morning Chronicle..languished and died. |
b. To live under conditions which lower the vitality or depress the spirits.
| 1489 Caxton Faytes of A. iii. xxiii. 223 To..make hys prysonners to langwysshe in pryson. 1592 tr. Junius on Rev. ix. 4 The miserable world languishing in so great calamities. 1711 Addison Spect. No. 181 ¶2, I..have ever since languished under the Displeasure of an inexorable Father. 1797 Mrs. Radcliffe Italian xi, The unfortunate captive is left to languish in chains and darkness. 1828 Carlyle Misc. (1857) I. 195 The street where he languished in poverty is called by his name. 1879 Farrar St. Paul (1883) 329 Peoples languishing under the withering atrophy of Turkish rule. |
2. Of appetites or activities: To grow slack, lose vigour or intensity. † Of light, colour, sound, etc.: To become faint.
| 1626 Bacon Sylva §255 Visibles and Audibles..doe languish and lessen by degrees, according to the Distance of the Obiects from the Sensories. 1635 R. Bolton Comf. Affl. Consc. xii. (ed. 2) 509 The brightness of lamps languish in the light. 1707 Watts Hymn, ‘Come holy Spirit, heavenly Dove’ iii, Hosannas languish on our Tongues, And our Devotion dies. 1855 Macaulay Hist. Eng. xx. IV. 516 Along the eastern frontier of France the war during this year seemed to languish. 1871 G. H. Napheys Prev. & Cure Dis. ii. i. 414 The appetite languishes. |
† b. Of health: To fall off.
| 1729 Savage Wanderer v. 670 Late months, that made the vernal season gay, Saw my health languish off in pale decay. |
3. To droop in spirits; to pine with love, grief, or the like.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 24646, I languis al for þe. 1382 Wyclif Song Sol. v. 8, I languysshe for looue. c 1386 Chaucer Frankl. T. 222 He dorste nat his sorwe telle But langwissheth as a furye dooth in helle. c 1400 Destr. Troy 9154 Made hym langwys in Loue & Longynges grete. 1483 Caxton Cato G ij b, Whan the courage languyssheth &..is abandonned to slouthfulnesse. 1509 Hawes Past. Pleas. xvi. (Percy Soc.) 72 Languysshe no more, but plucke up thyne herte. 1562 Eden Let. to Sir W. Cecil 1 Aug. in 1st 3 Eng. Bks. Amer. (Arb.) p. xliij, My spirites heretofore no lesse languysshed for lacke of suche a Patrone. 1590 Shakes. Mids. N. ii. i. 29 Loue and languish for his sake. 1604 ― Oth. iii. iii. 43 A man that languishes in your displeasure. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg. iii. 334 With two fair Eyes his Mistress burns his Breast; He looks, and languishes, and leaves his Rest. 1791 Burns Bonie Wee Thing, Wishfully I look and languish In that bonie face o' thine. 1844 Thirlwall Greece VIII. lxii. 134 The spirit languished as the body decayed. 1871 R. Ellis tr. Catullus xxxii. 11 A lover Here I languish alone. |
b. To waste away with desire or longing for, to pine for. Also const. with inf..
| [1611: see 4 a.] 1699 Relat. Sir T. Morgan's Progr. in Somers Tracts Ser. iv. (1751) III. 160 Major-general Morgan desired the Marshal not to let him languish for Orders. 1720 Ozell Vertot's Rom. Rep. I. v. 282 The People languished for the Restoration of their Tribunes. 1738 Wesley Psalms vi. iv, Yet still with never-ceasing Moans I languish for Relief. 1791 Cowper Iliad ii. 430 What soldier languishes and sighs To leave us? 1847 De Quincey Sp. Mil. Nun i, The poor nuns, who..were languishing for some amusement. 1870 Bryant Iliad I. ii. 49 All give way to grief And languish to return. |
c. To assume a languid look or expression, as an indication of sorrowful or tender emotion. Also quasi-trans.
| 1714 Mrs. Manley Adv. Rivella 71, I saw his Eyes always fix'd on her with unspeakable Delight, whilst hers languish'd him some returns. 1849 Thackeray Pendennis lx, When a visitor comes in, she smiles and languishes, you'd think that butter wouldn't melt in her mouth. |
4. a. quasi-trans. (usually with out): To pass (a period of time) in languishing.
| 1611 Shakes. Cymb. i. vi. 72 To think that man..will's free houres languish For assured bondage. 1683 Temple Mem. Wks. 1731 I. 449 He languish'd out the rest of the Summer, and died. 1713 Addison Cato ii. v, But whilst I live I must not hold my tongue, And languish out old age in his displeasure. 1734 tr. Rollin's Anc. Hist. xvi. ii. §8. VII. 302 Those who chose rather to destroy one another, than languish out their lives in that miserable manner. |
† b. causal. To make to languish. Obs. rare.
| 1575 Fenton Gold. Epist. (1582) 222 The displeasures passing in our house pearce deeper, and as a martyr languishe the heart euen vnto death. 1603 Florio Montaigne iii. v. 529 Least by that jouissance he might or quench, or satisfie, or languish [F. allanguir] that burning flame..wherewith he gloryed. |