languish

verb

Etymology: From Middle English languysshen, from the present participle stem of Anglo-Norman and Middle French languir, from Late Latin languīre, alteration of Latin languēre (“to be faint, unwell”). : Compare languor, languid and lax. : Cognate with slack.

1. To lose strength and become weak; to be in a state of weakness or sickness.

   “We […] do languish of such diseases.”

2. To pine away in longing for something; to have low spirits, especially from lovesickness.

   “He languished without his girlfriend.”

3. To live in miserable or disheartening conditions.

   “He languished in prison for years.”

   “An elderly Hungarian found languishing in a Russian mental hospital could finally be allowed to return home - 55 years after being taken prisoner by the Russian Army.”

4. To be neglected; to make little progress, be unsuccessful.

   “The case languished for years before coming to trial.”

5. To make weak; to weaken, devastate.
6. To affect a languid air, especially disingenuously.

   “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.”

   “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.”