dwindle

English

WOTD – 12 December 2008

Etymology

Frequentative form of dwine, from Middle English dwinen, from Old English dwīnan (“to waste away”), equivalent to dwine +‎ -le, akin to Old Norse dvena/dvína (Danish tvine (“to pine away”), Dutch verdwijnen (“to disappear, dwindle”).

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /ˈdwɪn.dəl/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪndəl

Verb

dwindle (third-person singular simple present dwindles, present participle dwindling, simple past and past participle dwindled)

1. (intransitive) To decrease, shrink, diminish, reduce in size or intensity.
   • 1802, T. Paynell (translator), Erasmus, The Complaint of Peace

     [E]very thing that was improving gradually degenerates and dwindles away to nothing, […]

2. (intransitive, figuratively) To fall away in quality; degenerate, sink.
   • 1709, [Jonathan Swift], A Project for the Advancement of Religion, and the Reformation of Manners. […], London: […] Benj[amin] Tooke, […], OCLC 220146796, page 44:

     Religious Societies, though begun with excellent Intention, and by Perſons of true Piety, have dwindled into factious Clubs; […]

   • 1766, Oliver Goldsmith, Vicar, III

     The flattery of his friends began to dwindle into simple approbation.

   • 1919, Boris Sidis, The Source and Aim of Human Progress

     The larger the empire, the more dwindles the mind of the citizen.

   • 2014 September 26, Charles Quest-Ritson, “The Dutch garden where tulip bulbs live forever: Hortus Bulborum, a volunteer-run Dutch garden, is dedicated to conserving historic varieties before they vanish for good [print version: Inspired by a living bulb archive, 27 September 2014, p. G5]”, in The Daily Telegraph (Gardening)‎^[1]:

     […] [I]nfected tulips are weakened by the viruses that cause the very patterns and swirls that fascinated horticulturists and investors in the first place. Such bulbs tend to dwindle away instead of fattening up and producing offsets.

3. (transitive) To lessen; to bring low.
   • 1728, James Thomson, “Spring”, in The Seasons, London: […] A[ndrew] Millar, and sold by Thomas Cadell, […], published 1768, OCLC 642619686:

     Our drooping days are dwindled down to nought.

4. To break up or disperse.
   • 1702–1704, Edward [Hyde, 1st] Earl of Clarendon, “(please specify |book=I to XVI)”, in The History of the Rebellion and Civil Wars in England, Begun in the Year 1641. […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: Printed at the Theater, published 1707, OCLC 937919305:

     there were only five hundred foot and three hundred horse left with him , for the blocking of Plymouth ; the rest were dwindled away

Derived terms

• dwindlement
• dwindles
• dwindling

 

Translations

(intransitive) to decrease, shrink, vanish

• Armenian: please add this translation if you can
• Bulgarian: смалявам се (smaljavam se), свивам се (svivam se)
• Catalan: disminuir (ca), afeblir-se (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 縮小 (zh), 缩小 (zh) (suōxiǎo), 減少 (zh), 减少 (zh) (jiǎnshǎo)

• Czech: ubývat, zmenšovat se
• Dutch: verdwijnen (nl), smelten (nl), krimpen (nl)
• Esperanto: please add this translation if you can
• Finnish: vähetä (fi), huveta (fi), haipua
• French: diminuer (fr), fondre (fr), s'amenuiser (fr), se tarir, se dessécher (fr), disparaître (fr), s'évanouir (fr), décroître (fr)
• Georgian: please add this translation if you can
• German: schwinden (de)
• Hungarian: fogy (hu), apad (hu), csökken (hu), elenyészik (hu), gyengül (hu), kevesbedik, kisebbedik (hu), megcsappan, sorvad (hu)
• Icelandic: dvína
• Ido: diminutar (io)
• Italian: restringersi, diminuire (it)
• Japanese: 減少する (ja) (げんしょうする, genshō suru)

• Khmer: please add this translation if you can
• Maori: tāharahara
• Middle English: dwynen
• Navajo: áádįįł
• Polish: umniejszać (pl)
• Portuguese: diminuir (pt), decrescer (pt)
• Russian: уменьша́ться (ru) impf (umenʹšátʹsja), уме́ньшиться (ru) pf (uménʹšitʹsja), сокраща́ться (ru) impf (sokraščátʹsja), сократи́ться (ru) pf (sokratítʹsja)
• Scottish Gaelic: crìon
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: сви̏снути

  Roman: svȉsnuti (sh)

• Spanish: disminuir (es), agotarse (es), desaparecer (es), menguar (es)
• Swedish: minska (sv), krympa (sv), förtvina (sv)
• Thai: please add this translation if you can
• Vietnamese: please add this translation if you can

Anagrams

• windled