[f. WITHER v.2 + -ING2.] That withers, in various senses.
1. Fading, decaying. lit. and fig.
1599. Alex. Hume, Hymns, VII. 226. Widdring weids.
1621. T. Williamson, trans. Goulart’s Wise Vieillard, 2. This withering and transitory life.
1668. J. Owen, Indwelling-Sin, xiv. 235. There may be a withering member in the body.
1680. Otway, Orphan, IV. vii. Desire shall languish like a withering flower.
1783. Crabbe, Village, I. 185. The bare arms broken from the withering tree.
1784. Cowper, Task, VI. 938. There he fights, And there obtains fresh triumphs o’er himself, And never with’ring wreaths.
1821. Shelley, Adonais, xxxii. On the withering flower The killing sun smiles brightly.
2. Causing to fade or decay (lit. and fig.); esp. causing decay of vigor or paralysis of effort; blasting, blighting; often applied to the ‘paralyzing’ effect of scornful looks, criticism, and the like, and to destructive gun-fire.
1579. E. K., in Spenser’s Sheph. Cal., Feb. Arg., A dry and withering cold.
1599. Daniel, Musophilus, 167. Whereas he came planted in the Spring,… We, set in th’ Autumne, in the withering And sullen season of a cold defect, Must [etc.].
16[?]. ? Breton, C’tess Penbrook’s Pass., xlviii. (Grosart), 6/1. Wethering Winter gives her chillinge cheare.
1747. Collins, Ode Passions, 42. With a with’ring Look.
1792. S. Rogers, Pleas. Mem., II. 110. A withering scowl she wore.
1810. Southey, Kehama, XI. iv. Oh! hide him from that Witch’s withering sight!
1813. Byron, Corsair, II. x. The withering sense of evil unreveal’d.
1849. Aytoun, Lays Scott. Cav., 114. Vainly sped the withering volley ’Mongst the foremost of our band.
1857. Kingsley, Two Y. Ago, xv. Elsley … cast on him a look which he intended to have been withering.
a. 1859. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., xxiv. V. 135. A blighting and withering dominion.
1884. J. Colborne, With Hicks Pasha in Soudan, 174. Our withering fire knocked the poor fellows over and over.
Hence Witheringly adv. (lit. and fig.).
1815. Byron, Hebr. Mel., Wild Gazelle, iv. We must wander witheringly, In other lands to die.
1819. Wiffen, Aonian Hours (1820), 64. The gathered flower droops witheringly away.
1835. M. Scott, in Blackw. Mag., XXXVII. 452/1. My uncle … looked so witheringly at him, that, with all his effrontery, I could perceive his self-possession evaporating rapidly.
1905. R. Bagot, Passport, xiii. 116. ‘Then, may I ask, what is the use of sending me on a fool’s errand?’ the professor retorted, witheringly.
