wizen

wiz·en  (wzn)

v. wiz·ened, wiz·en·ing, wiz·ens

v.intr.

To dry up; wither or shrivel.

v.tr.

To cause to wither, shrivel, or dry up.

adj.

Shriveled or dried up; withered: "There would be a day when his face would be wrinkled and wizen" (Oscar Wilde).

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[Middle English wisenen, from Old English wisnian.]

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wizen¹

vb

to make or become shrivelled

adj

a variant of wizened

[Old English wisnian; related to Old Norse visna, Old High German wesanēn]

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wizen²

n

an archaic word for weasand (the gullet)

Thesaurus

Adj.

1.

wizen - lean and wrinkled by shrinkage as from age or illness; "the old woman's shriveled skin"; "he looked shriveled and ill"; "a shrunken old man"; "a lanky scarecrow of a man with withered face and lantern jaws"-W.F.Starkie; "he did well despite his withered arm"; "a wizened little man with frizzy grey hair" shrunken, withered, wizened, shriveled, shrivelled lean, thin - lacking excess flesh; "you can't be too rich or too thin"; "Yon Cassius has a lean and hungry look"-Shakespeare