Obs. exc. dial. Also 3 welken, 4–7 welke, 5 wylke, 7 wilke; ppl. a. 6 wealked, 9 dial. wilkt. [ME. welken, prob. of Continental origin: cf. (M)Du., LG., OHG. (MHG. and G.) welken (also OHG. welhen, MHG. welchen), in the same sense, and LG. welk, wälk, OHG. welk, welc (G. welk) adj., withered, flaccid, sere, etc.]
1. intr. Of a flower, plant, etc.: To lose freshness or greenness; to become flaccid or dry; to wilt, wither, fade. Also with away.
c. 1250. [implied in WELKED ppl. a.].
a. 1300. E. E. Psalter, lxxxix. 6. It wites als gresse areli at dai;… At euen doun es it broght Vnlastes, and welkes and gas to noght.
1340. Hampole, Pr. Consc., 707. A man may likend be Til a flour, þat … Welkes and dwynes til it be noght.
1387. Trevisa, Higden, I. 77. No manere of tree leseþ þere his leues; no floures þere welkeþ.
c. 1440. Jacob’s Well, 252. Thou faryst as a vyne wyth brode levys that sone welkyn.
a. 1470. H. Parker, Dives & Pauper (W. de W., 1496), IV. xxiii. 189/1. They [the garlondes] shall alwaye be grene & fresshe, & neyther welke ne fade.
1577. Harrison, England, III. xiv. 113 b. Saffron … These flowers are gathered … before the rising of the Sunne, whych would cause them to welke or flitter.
1641. Best, Farming Bks. (Surtees), 31. Soe soone as the pennie-grass beginne to welke and seeme dry, then is it time to beginne to mowe.
1648. Hunting of Fox, 7. Some particular vines … doe daily wilke and wither away.
1787. Grose, Prov. Gloss., s.v., Mown grass in drying for hay is said to welk.
1825. Brockett, N. C. Words, Welk, to dry, to wither.
b. transf. and fig. (or in fig. context)
c. 1340. Hampole, Psalter, lxxii. 17. Behaulde the laste endinge of wicked men, when thair flour welkes, & wytes awaye.
1387–8. T. Usk, Test. Love, II. xi. 105. I, as a seer tree, without burjoning or frute, alwaye welke.
a. 1425. trans. Arderne’s Treat. Fistula, etc., 41. And so I quenchid þe forseid superfluites … so þat þai bigan to dry and to welk and fall away.
1625. K. Long, trans. Barclay’s Argenis, Pref. 4. For Bookes translated doe,… like remov’d Trees, welke.
1657. Reeve, God’s Plea, 232. This world … can hold nothing in it long, the whitest flowers welk and drop.
† 2. To become less, to diminish, to shrink. Of the sun or moon: To wane, lose brightness. Obs.
1390. Gower, Conf., I. 35. The See now ebbeth, now it floweth, The lond now welketh, now it groweth.
[1579. E. K., Gloss. Spenser’s Sheph. Cal., Nov., 13. The Moone being in the waine is sayde of Lidgate to welk.]
1590. Spenser, F. Q., I. i. 23. When ruddy Phœbus gins to welke in west.
1631. Quarles, Samson, xiii. 24. When the Sun was welking in the West.
1641. Milton, Reform., I. 29. The Church that before by insensible degrees welk’t and impair’d, now with large steps went downe hill decaying.
3. trans. To cause to fade or wither.
1579. Spenser, Sheph. Cal., Nov., 13. But nowe sadde Winter welked hath the day.
1594. Zepheria, xvi. C 4 b. Oh how hath black night welked vp this day?
a. 1825. Forby, Voc. E. Anglia, Welk.… 2. To expose to sun and air, and turn over in order to be dried; as grass to be converted to hay.
Hence Welking vbl. sb. and ppl. a.
a. 1400. Gloss., in Rel. Ant., I. 6. Emerceo, to wex drie and welkynge.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 521/1. Welkynge, marcor.
1630. J. Lane, Contn. Squire’s T., IX. 225 (Ashm.). While welking Phoebus went down to the west.
