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Entry 5 senses · 3 variants Webster, 1913

Languish

/lăng'-gwĭsh/ · Lan·guish · IPA /ˈlæŋ.ɡwɪʃ/
01 v. i. To become languid or weak; to lose strength or animation; to be or become dull, feeble or spiritless; to pine away; to linger in a weak or …
imp. & p. p. Languished; p. pr. & vb. n. Languishing
  1. 1.
    To become languid or weak; to lose strength or animation; to be or become dull, feeble or spiritless; to pine away; to linger in a weak or deteriorating condition; to wither or fade.
    “We . . . do languish of such diseases.” — 2 Esdras viii. 31.
    “Cease, fond nature, cease thy strife, And let me languish into life.” — Pope.
    “For the fields of Heshbon languish.” — Is. xvi. 8.
  2. 2.
    To assume an expression of weariness or tender grief, appealing for sympathy.
  3. 3.
    To be neglected and unattended to; as, the proposal languished on the director's desk for months.
Syn. To pine; wither; fade; droop; faint.
02 v. i. To cause to droop or pine.
  1. 1.
    To cause to droop or pine.[Obs.]
03 n. See Languishment.
  1. 1.
    See Languishment.[Obs. or Poetic] See: Languishment
    “What, of death, too, That rids our dogs of languish?” — Shak.
    “And the blue languish of soft Allia's eye.” — Pope.