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To be diminished; to lose bulk, substance, strength, value, or the like, gradually; to be consumed; to dwindle; to grow less. The time wasteth night and day. Chaucer. The barrel of meal shall not waste. 1 Kings xvii. 14. But man dieth, and wasteth away. Job xiv. 10.

hing; forbearance of sleep; vigil; wakeful, vigilant, or constantly observant attention; close observation; guard; preservative or preventive vigilance; formerly, a watching or guarding by night. Shepherds keeping watch by night. Milton. All the long night their mournful watch they keep. Addison.

To become weak or weaker; to lose strength, spirit, or determination; to become less positive or resolute; as, the patient weakened; the witness weakened on cross-examination. "His notion weakens, his discernings are lethargied." Shak.

; esp., abundance of worldly estate; affluence; opulence; riches. I have little wealth to lose. Shak. Each day new wealth, without their care, provides. Dryden. Wealth comprises all articles of value and nothing else. F. A. Walker. Active wealth. See under Active.

affected, in a bouillon culture of typhoid bacilli, causes the bacilli to agglutinate and lose their motility.

To begin to wither; to lose freshness and become flaccid, as a plant when exposed when exposed to drought, or to great heat in a dry day, or when separated from its root; to droop;. to wither. [Prov. Eng. & U. S.]

To break the wind of; to cause to lose breath; to exhaust. [R.] 'T would wind-break a mule to vie burdens with her. Ford.

of the mind; -- used in this sense chiefly in the plural, and in certain phrases; as, to lose one's wits; at one's wits' end, and the like. "Men's wittes ben so dull." Chaucer. I will stare him out of his wits. Shak.

To fade; to lose freshness; to become sapless; to become sapless; to dry or shrivel up. Shall he hot pull up the roots thereof, and cut off the fruit thereof, that it wither Ezek. xvii. 9.

m of the affairs which affect the individual; as, to begin the world with no property; to lose all, and begin the world anew.

ship; a worthless man or woman; a worthless magistrate. 'T is a worthless world to win or lose. Byron. -- Worth"less*ly, adv. -- Worth"less*ness, n.

first losing his hold, or touching the ground with any part of his body except his feet, loses the bout. If both fall to the ground at the same time, it is a dogfall, and must be wrestled over. In the Cornwall and Devon wrestling, the wrestlers complete in strong loose linen jackets, catching hold of the jacket, or an…