Definition of "languish"

languish

/ˈlæŋ.ɡwɪʃ/

verb
third-person singular simple present languishes, present participle languishing, simple past and past participle languished
1. (intransitive) To lose strength and become weak; to be in a state of weakness or sickness.
  Quotations
  We […] do languish of such diseases.
  1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], 2 Esdras 8:31
2. (intransitive) To pine away in longing for something; to have low spirits, especially from lovesickness.
3. (intransitive) To live in miserable or disheartening conditions.
4. (intransitive) To be neglected; to make little progress, be unsuccessful.
5. (transitive, obsolete) To make weak; to weaken, devastate.
6. (intransitive, now rare) To affect a languid air, especially disingenuously.
  Quotations
  He is an excellent young man, and will suit Harriet exactly: it will be an "exactly so," as he says himself; but he does sigh and languish, and study for compliments rather more than I could endure as a principal.
  1815, Jane Austen, Emma
  His bowstring slackened, languid Love, / Leaning his cheek upon his hand, / Droops both his wings, regarding thee, / And so would languish evermore, / Serene, imperial Eleänore.
  a. 1833, Alfred, Lord Tennyson, “Eleänore”, in Poems, page 31