withered

Everyday

1. Withered means dried up and shrunk, like an old plant or flower. tree →
2. Withered can describe old, wrinkled skin or weak limbs. tree →

In the lessons

In science, plants wither without water. In stories, a withered tree or hand shows age or illness; in the Bible Jesus heals a man with a withered hand. Phrases: withered flowers, a withered hand.

Examples

• The flowers withered in the heat. tree →
• The withered leaves fell from the tree. tree →
• Grandma's hands are withered with age. tree →
• Christians read that Jesus healed a man with a withered hand. tree →
• The withered plant needed water. tree →
• The apple was withered and brown. tree →
• His body became like a withered tree. tree →

Note

Past form of «wither». Opposite: fresh, blooming.

In Jewish tradition

The Torah uses it for thin ears of grain in Pharaoh's dream. The psalms and prophets use withered grass as a picture of a weak, sad person, and Jonah's gourd withers after a worm strikes it.

Interpretation. In Pharaoh's dream, the thin withered ears stand for years of famine. Joseph reads the dream as a message from God about what is coming. The withered grass of the psalms is read as a picture of human frailty.

Examples

• And, behold, seven ears, withered, thin, and blasted with the east wind, sprung up after them. (Torah GEN.41.23, JPS 1917) tree →
• My days are like a lengthening shadow; and I am withered like grass. (Writings PSA.102.12, JPS 1917) tree →
• My heart is smitten like grass, and withered; for I forget to eat my bread. (Writings PSA.102.5, JPS 1917) tree →
• But God prepared a worm when the morning rose the next day, and it smote the gourd, that it withered. (Prophets JON.4.7, JPS 1917) tree →

Note

Past form of «wither». Opposite: fresh, blooming.