[f. L. ēmaciāt- ppl. stem of ēmaciāre + ē out + maci-es leanness.]
1. trans. a. To make lean, waste, deprive of flesh. b. transf. To impoverish (soil).
1650. H. Brooke, Conserv. Health, 177. Dries and emaciates the Body.
1746. Hervey, Medit. (1818), 159. Consumption may emaciate the dimpled cheeks.
1818. Mrs. Shelley, Frankenst., iv. (1865), 23. His body was dreadfully emaciated by fatigue and suffering.
1862. Fraser’s Mag., Nov., 575. I was so emaciated by illness.
† 2. intr. To become lean, dwindle. Obs. rare.
1646. Sir T. Browne, Pseud. Ep., VII. xiii. 366. That he emaciated and pined away in the too anxious enquirie of its reciprocations.
