wizen

wizenadj/ˈwɪzən/

• 1

  Wizened; withered; lean and wrinkled by shrinkage as from age or illness.

  • His face was wizen and wrinkled, his faded blue eyes dim and weak-looking. He was feeble, and his hands were tremulous with a perpetual nervous motion.
  • Yes, there would be a day when his face would be wrinkled and wizen, his eyes dim and colourless, the grace of his figure broken and deformed. The scarlet would pass away from his lips and the gold steal from his hair.

wizenverb/ˈwɪzən/

• 1

  To wither; to become lean and wrinkled by shrinkage, as from age or illness.

  • After wizening with cold for an hour, we ran down to the hut for breakfast, rejoicing in having brought with us some portable soup ; and after a second visit to the summit, started at eight, when the day seemed already far advanced, along with the Bleiberg party, for the descent.
  • Where his suspicions were cast no man knew for certain, but his plump features wizened, and his rosy cheeks grew white, his proud head drooped, and he walked with a piteous uncertainty for so pompous and lofty a man.
• 2

  To make wizened.

  • […] Lea, archetype of the older woman, wise, but not yet wizened by age and experience.
  • The title itself refers to Nō masks that represent stock women characters from traditional stories—such as the young “madwoman” or the older woman wizened by age and loss—though it is translated into English simply as Masks.