To wither, to fade, to droop, to collapse.
1809. Decorated with fanciful festoons of wilted peaches and dried apples.—W. Irving, ‘A History of New-York,’ i. 185 (1812).
1817. You perceived that [the rod] was dry and tough; it was wilted in the ashes of the great conflagration.—Mass. Spy, March 5.
1821. The leaves of the common black cherry tree, when a little wilted, if eaten by horned cattle, will kill them in a short time.—Id., Sept. 12: from the Montpelier Watchman.
1825. See; see! pale as death; and wiltin’ away, like a cabbage leaf, in the hot sun.—John Neal, ‘Brother Jonathan,’ ii. 109.
1825. When the old witch pow-wowed over that [tree], we could see it wilt away, wilt away.—Id., iii. 388.
1833. See LIMPSY.
1844. But they could fly round at merry-makings a vast deal quicker and lighter than your lank, thin-faced, sharp-sided, wasp-waisted, withered, wilted, dried-up beings, who look as though they had just undergone the Egyptian process of hollowing out, and drying up, and now need to stand in the air awhile to give them an appearance of some solidity.—‘Lowell Offering,’ iv. 174.
1850. That steel-nerved arm was wilted;—those scorn-glancing eyes were upturned in glassy impotence;—that redoubtable chest should heave no more.—S. Judd, ‘Richard Edney,’ p. 458.
1851. The Frost-spirit wooed and would marry a sweet Flower. He said to the Flower, ‘Wilt thou?’ and the Flower ‘wilt’ed.—Knick. Mag., xxxvii. 101 (Jan.).
a. 1854.
| The ladies, too, all wilted down, | |
| Like rag-dolls hung their hands: | |
| Poor, drooping things!—more wilted they | |
| Than lettuce on the stands. | |
Dow, Jun., ‘Patent Sermons,’ iv. 109. |
1854. You, young lady, with a parasol like a wilted cabbage-leaf on a ramrod.—Oregon Weekly Times, Sept. 9.
1854.
| Then softly he whispered, How could you do so? | |
| I certainly thought I was jilted; | |
| But come thou with me, to the parson we’ll go; | |
| Say, wilt thou, my dear? and she wilted. | |
N.Y. Spirit of the Times, n.d. |
1855. Two of the less wilted pumpkins being reserved for the cabin table, the residue were minced up on the spot for the general regalement.—H. Melville, ‘Benito Cereno,’ in Putnam’s Mag., vi. 465/1 (Nov.).
1856. Ben to do him justice was kind to the wilted little mortal, as if he almost suspected that he had absorbed her vitality into his own exuberant growth.—H. B. Stowe, ‘Dred,’ ch. xxii.
1856. The dogs, in sympathy, slunk round the group with wilted tails.—Yale Lit. Mag., xxi. 148 (Feb.).
1857. One plunge of Sally’s elbow, and my blooming bosom ruffles wilted to the consistency and form of an after-dinner napkin.—San Francisco Call, Feb. 17: from the N.Y. Spirit of the Times.
1857. He suddenly wilted down, until he was entirely concealed from my view by a quart-pot which sat on the counter.—Knick. Mag., l. 434 (Nov.).
1888. See SMUDGE.
