v.
- grow weak or feeble.
▸archaic pine with love or grief.
- be kept in an unpleasant place or situation:
he was languishing in jail.
Derivative
- languisher n.
- languishment n. (archaic).
Etymology
ME: from OFr. languiss-, lengthened stem of languir, from a var. of L. languere, rel. to laxus ‘lax’.