Careful Words

withering (n.)

withering (adj.)

Hope withering fled, and Mercy sighed farewell!

Lord Byron 1788-1824: The Corsair. Canto i. Stanza 9.

Like leaves on trees the race of man is found,—

Now green in youth, now withering on the ground;

Another race the following spring supplies:

They fall successive, and successive rise.

Alexander Pope (1688-1744): The Iliad of Homer. Book vi. Line 181.

Maidens withering on the stalk.

William Wordsworth (1770-1850): Personal Talk. Stanza 1.

But earthlier happy is the rose distill'd

Than that which withering on the virgin thorn

Grows, lives, and dies in single blessedness.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): A Midsummer Night's Dream. Act i. Sc. 1.