[syn: shriveled, shrivelled, shrunken]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Shrivel \Shriv"el\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Shriveledor
Shrivelled; p. pr. & vb. n. Shriveling or Shrivelling.]
[Probably akin to shrimp, shrink; cf. dial. AS. screpa to
pine away, Norw. skrypa to waste, skryp, skryv, transitory,
frail, Sw. skr["o]pling feeble, Dan. skr["o]belig, Icel.
skrj?pr brittle, frail.]
To draw, or be drawn, into wrinkles; to shrink, and form
corrugations; as, a leaf shriveles in the hot sun; the skin
shrivels with age; -- often with up.
[1913 Webster]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
shrivelled
adj 1: (used especially of vegetation) having lost all moisture;
"dried-up grass"; "the desert was edged with sere
vegetation"; "shriveled leaves on the unwatered
seedlings"; "withered vines" [syn: dried-up, sere,
sear, shriveled, shrivelled, withered]
2: lean and wrinkled by shrinkage as from age or illness; "the
old woman's shriveled skin"; "he looked shriveled and ill";
"a shrunken old man"; "a lanky scarecrow of a man with
withered face and lantern jaws"-W.F.Starkie; "he did well
despite his withered arm"; "a wizened little man with frizzy
grey hair" [syn: shriveled, shrivelled, shrunken,
withered, wizen, wizened]
3: reduced in efficacy or vitality or intensity; "our shriveled
receipts during the storm"; "as the project wore on she found
her enthusiasm shriveled"; "the dollar's shrunken buying
power" [syn: shriveled, shrivelled, shrunken]