withers
pronunciation
How to pronounce withers in British English:
UK [ˈwɪðəz]
How to pronounce withers in American English:
US [ˈwɪðərz]
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- Noun:
- sensibility to trouble (as in the phrase `wring one's withers')
- the highest part of the back at the base of the neck of various animals especially draft animals
Word Origin
- withers (n.)
- 1570s, probably from a dialectal survival of Old English wiðer "against, contrary, opposite" (see with) + plural suffix. Usually said to be so called because the withers are the parts of the animal that oppose the load. Compare German Widerrist "withers," from wider "against" + Rist "wrist."
Example
- 1. Your youth withers in your basket .
- 2. So often talent withers because there is nobody to encourage it .
- 3. After the juice is thus drawn out , the tree withers and dies .
- 4. Withers was a fool . He should have sold .
- 5. Without that , the whole operation withers and dies .