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wizened

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

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WOTD – 6 October 2012

Etymology

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From wizen +‎ -ed.

Inherited from Middle English wisenen, from Old English wisnian, weosnian, from Proto-Germanic *wisnōjaną. Cognate with Icelandic visna.

Pronunciation

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Verb

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wizened

  1. simple past and past participle of wizen

Adjective

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wizened (comparative more wizened, superlative most wizened)

  1. Withered; lean and wrinkled by shrinkage as from age or illness.
    • 1816, Sir Walter Scott, chapter 8, in Old Mortality:
      "Ill-fard, crazy, crack-brained gowk, that she is!" exclaimed the housekeeper. . . "If it hadna been that I am mair than half a gentlewoman by my station, I wad hae tried my ten nails in the wizen'd hide o' her!"
    • 1907, Jack London, chapter 7, in Before Adam:
      He was old, too, wizened with age, and the hair on his face was gray.
    • 2010 May 13, Richard Corliss, “Cannes: Best-Ever Film by a 101-Year-Old Man”, in Time, retrieved 5 October 2013:
      In the simple fable about old age reconciling itself to memory and destiny, Mastroianni wears the wizened smile of a man who knows he is visiting his youth for the last time.

Derived terms

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Translations

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