dwindle
verb/ˈdwɪn.dəl/UK
Etymology
Frequentative form of dwine, from Middle English dwinen, from Old English dwīnan (“to waste away”), from Proto-West Germanic *dwīnan, from Proto-Germanic *dwīnaną. It is equivalent to dwine + -le, akin to Old Norse dvena, dvína, Dutch verdwijnen (“to disappear, dwindle”).
Definitions
To decrease, shrink, diminish, reduce in size or intensity.
- Their supplies began to dwindle after a week.
- Interest in the project slowly dwindled.
- dwindle away
To fall away in quality
To fall away in quality; degenerate, sink.
- VVearie Seu'nights, nine times nine, / Shall he dvvindle, peake, and pine: […]
- Religious Societies, though begun with excellent Intention, and by Perſons of true Piety, have dwindled into factious Clubs; […]
- The flattery of his friends began to dwindle into simple approbation.
To lessen
To lessen; to bring low.
- Our drooping days are dwindled down to nought.
›+ 1 more definitionshow fewer
To break up or disperse.
- there were only five hundred foot and three hundred horse left with him, for the blocking of Plymouth; the rest were dwindled away
The neighborhood
Derived
Vish — recursive loop
No curated loop yet for dwindle. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.
sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA