dwine

English

Etymology

From Middle English dwynen, from Old English dwīnan, from Proto-West Germanic *dwīnan, from Proto-Germanic *dwīnaną, from Proto-Indo-European *dʰwey- (to slip away, dwindle, die), from *dʰew- (to pass away, die). Compare West Frisian ferdwine, Dutch dwijnen, verdwijnen, Low German dwienen, verdwienen, Icelandic dvína. See also English dwindle, dush.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /dwaɪn/
  • Rhymes: -aɪn

Verb

dwine (third-person singular simple present dwines, present participle dwining, simple past and past participle dwined)

  1. (archaic outside Scotland and dialects) To wither, decline, pine away.

Noun

dwine (countable and uncountable, plural not attested)

  1. (rare) Decline, wane.
    Synonyms: dwindling, dwining
    • 1896, The Sunday at Home, volume 43, page 750:
      Old Mrs. Jennery, of Springholm, never had a daughter of her own, neither had her son, the father of the twin lads whom he left to his mother's care when he died of the dwine, as the country-folk called it.
    • 2009, Sheri S. Tepper, Grass, page 327:
      They stopped only when they came to the first deep pools gleaming with oily reflections in the dwine of the daylight.

Anagrams

Old English

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈdwiː.ne/
  • IPA(key): /ˈdwi.ne/

Verb

dwīne

  1. inflection of dwīnan:
    1. first-person singular present indicative
    2. singular present subjunctive

Verb

dwine

  1. inflection of dwīnan:
    1. second-person singular preterite indicative
    2. singular preterite subjunctive

Scots

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Old English dwīnan, from Proto-Germanic *dwīnaną.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /dwəin/

Verb

dwine (third-person singular simple present dwines, present participle dwinin, simple past dwinet, past participle dwinet)

  1. to waste away, wither, decline

Noun

dwine (plural dwines)

  1. a decline, a waning