a. Forms: 6 wysnit, -yt, 8 wissen’d, 8–9 wizen’d, 9 wiz(z)ened, wizzen’d, wizend, wizzent, wuzzent. [orig. Sc. and north.: f. WIZEN v. + -ED1.]
1. Of plants, foliage, wood, etc.: Dried up, withered, shrivelled.
1513. Douglas, Æneis, VII. Prol. 124. In heych wysnit treis, The soir gled quhislis loud.
1721. Ramsay, Prosp. Plenty, 93. The antient Nations … Maun study closs … Aff a’ the wissen’d Leaves of Spite to shake. Ibid. (1721), Ode to Mr. F.—— 7. The Nags and Nowt hate wissen’d Strae.
1826. G. Beattie, John O’ Arnha (ed. 5), 58. Their wizzent timbers stour’d like sneishin!
1853. Hawthorne, Tanglewood T., Pomegranate Seeds, 196. He set down the golden salver, with the wizened pomegranate upon it.
1880. Howells, Undiscov. Country, ix. The farmer had ceased to coax his wizened crops from the sterile soil.
1882. Garden, 18 March, 183/3. There is some excuse for eating wizened Muscats.
2. Of persons or animals, their features, etc.: Shrunken and dried up, thin and shrivelled. † Also of the throat, parched.
1513. Douglas, Æneis, IX. ii. 70. [The wild wolf’s] wysnyt throt, havand of blude sic thrist, Gendris of lang fast sic ane appetyte.
1728. Ramsay, Last Sp. Miser, iv. The wissen’d beardless wights Wha herd the wives of eastern knights.
1785. Burns, 1st Epist. Davie, xi. I’ll light now, and dight now, His [sc. Pegasus’s] sweaty, wizen’d hide.
1818. Scott, Hrt. Midl., xviii. Wadna I set my ten talents in your wuzzent face for that very word?
1866. G. Macdonald, Ann. Q. Neighb., xxx. (1878), 518. A little wizened creature, with more wrinkles than hairs.
1871. L. Stephen, Playgr. Eur. (1894), x. 253. His … wizened face had a strong resemblance to the features of good-humoured goblins.
1903. Meredith, Lett. (1912), II. 559. Your visit will give you a wizened old hen instead of the plump pullet you look for.
Comb. 1890. W. A. Wallace, Only a Sister? xxxi. I’ll have a reckoning with the wizened-faced old rogue.
b. transf.
1862. Mrs. Browning, Song Ragged Schools, 28. In God’s liberal blue air Peter’s dome itself looks wizened.
1895. Meredith, Amazing Marr., I. xix. 209. Below the top bars of a wizened grate was a chilly fire.
1905. Sir F. Treves, Other Side of Lantern, II. xix. (1906), 123. A wizened old city hidden among the hills.
Hence Wizenedness.
1887. Kipling, Plain Tales, Bisara of Pooree (1924), 263. It was his wizenedness and worthlessness that made him fall … in love with Miss Hollis.
