wizen

comparative more wizen · superlative most wizen · alternative wizzen

1. Wizened; withered; lean and wrinkled by shrinkage as from age or illness.

   His face was wizen and wrinkled, his faded blue eyes dim and weak-looking. He was feeble, and his hands were tremulous with a perpetual nervous motion.

   1864, Mary Elizabeth Braddon, Henry Dunbar

   1 more example

   Yes, there would be a day when his face would be wrinkled and wizen, his eyes dim and colourless, the grace of his figure broken and deformed. The scarlet would pass away from his lips and the gold steal from his hair.

   1891, Oscar Wilde, “chapter”, in The Picture of Dorian Gray, London; New York, N.Y.: Ward Lock & Co., →OCLC

present singular third person wizens · participle present wizening · participle past wizened · past wizened · alternative wizzen

1. intransitiveTo wither; to become lean and wrinkled by shrinkage, as from age or illness.

   Shrink like coal on the hearth! Wizen like filth on the wall!

   1999, Robert Lacey, Danny Danziger, The Year 1000: What life was like at the turn of The First Millennium, London: Abacus, published 2000, page 125

   3 more examples

   After wizening with cold for an hour, we ran down to the hut for breakfast, rejoicing in having brought with us some portable soup ; and after a second visit to the summit, started at eight, when the day seemed already far advanced, along with the Bleiberg party, for the descent.

   1864, Josiah Gilbert Holland, G. C. Churchill, “The Morning Panorama”, in The Dolomite Mountains: Excursions through Tyrol, Carinthia, Carniola, & Friuli in 1861, 1862, & 1863, London: Longman et al., page 493

   Where his suspicions were cast no man knew for certain, but his plump features wizened, and his rosy cheeks grew white, his proud head drooped, and he walked with a piteous uncertainty for so pompous and lofty a man.

   1883, David Christie Murray, Hearts, volume III, London: Chatto & Windus, page 30

   1–2000 solution gave no blackening, the tissues of the apple wizening before any effect was seen.

   1920, G. H. Coons, Genevieve Gillette, “Phenol Injury to Apples”, in Annual Report of The Michigan Academy of Science, volume 21, page 327

2. transitiveTo make wizened.

   […] Lea, archetype of the older woman, wise, but not yet wizened by age and experience.

   1981 January 26, Gerald Clarke, “Books: Field Flowers”, in Time

   1 more example

   The title itself refers to Nō masks that represent stock women characters from traditional stories—such as the young “madwoman” or the older woman wizened by age and loss—though it is translated into English simply as Masks.

   2019 January 23, Julia Shiota, “The Messiness of Resistance”, in Ploughshares, retrieved 16 Jul 2026