[f. WITHER v.2 + -ING1.]
1. The action of WITHER v.2, q.v.
1523. Fitzherb., Husb., § 23. The yonger and the grener that the grasse is, the softer and the sweter it wyll be whan it is hey, but it wyll haue the more wyddrynge.
a. 1614. Donne, Βιαθανατος (1644), 131. These enormous witherings of our bodies are allowable.
1658. A. Fox, Würtz’ Surg., III. xxiii. 289. A Withering, is a Symptom which is incident to joints wounded.
1796. in J. Robertson, Agric. Perth (1799), 517. What fell off from the whins, broom, firs, &c. in the course of their withering.
1848. S. Ball, Tea, viii. 157. The peculiar red appearance of this tea is produced … by tossing the leaves on trays … to promote the withering.
1853. Maurice, Proph. & Kings, vii. 115. The withering of a hand which was cured again.
1862. Helps, Organization in Daily Life, 5. The waste of time, and the withering-up of enjoyment.
1866. G. Stephens, Runic Mon., I. 25. The remaining withering-away of the N in Scandinavia is in the infinitive.
1899. Allbutt’s Syst. Med., VIII. 845. Spontaneous withering or retrogression of certain of the tumours.
1903. C. Bald, Indian Tea, xv. (1917), 218. Withering in the sun is fatal to fine quality.
b. attrib.
1707. Mortimer, Husb., 267. After the Malt has lain on the withering Floors about twelve or fourteen days.
1853. Dickens, Bleak Ho., xix. The learned gentleman who does the withering business, and who blights all opponents with his gloomy sarcasm.
1897. D. Crole, Tea, vii. 114. A withering-house 100 yards long … will … accommodate about 140 maunds of leaf.
2. concr. Withered branches or brushwood, used in making fences, etc.
1852. C. W. Hoskyns, Talpa, 46. A man-made barrier of stakes and ‘witherings.’
1854. R. S. Surtees, Handley Cr., xiv. (1901), I. 104. The rotten stakes and witherings of a low ill-made-up gap.
