wither

Plural: withers

Verb

Verb Forms: withered, withering, withers

To shrivel or shrink, losing freshness or vitality.
wither, as with a loss of moisture
lose freshness, vigor, or vitality
To shrivel, droop or dry up, especially from lack of water.
To cause to shrivel or dry up.
To lose vigour or power; to languish; to pass away.
To become helpless due to emotion.
To make helpless due to emotion.
To go against, resist; oppose.

Noun

singular of withers (“part of the back of a four-legged animal that is between the shoulder blades”)

Adv

Against, in opposition to.

Examples

His hopes began to WITHER as his opponent laid down yet another bingo in Words With Friends.

Origin / Etymology

From Middle English widren, wydderen (“to dry up, shrivel”), related to or perhaps an alteration of Middle English wederen (“to expose to weather”), from Old English wederian (“to expose to weather, exhibit a change of weather”).
Cognates
From Proto-Germanic: Dutch verwederen, Dutch verweren (“to erode by weather”), German verwittern, wittern (“to be ruined by weather; to erode”), Swedish vittra (“wither”).
More at weather.

Synonyms

fade, shrink, shrivel, shrivel up

Scrabble Score: 12

wither: valid Scrabble (US) TWL Word
wither: valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
wither: valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary

Words With Friends Score: 11

wither: valid Words With Friends Word