Definition of "wizen" [wiz•en]

• To dry up; wither or shrivel. (verb-intransitive)
• To cause to wither, shrivel, or dry up. (verb-transitive)
• Shriveled or dried up; withered: "There would be a day when his face would be wrinkled and wizen” ( Oscar Wilde). (adjective)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "In fact I think with the world the way it is now and the interaction now possible because of technology we can experience and learn a lot more than people did in the past, which I believe has the ability to change and wizen a person much quicker than was possible in the not so distant past."
• "I remembered the main building in detail, wizen walls, dull unpolished and broken floorboards, nineteen fifties metal, peeling paint, dust, decay, death."
• "Obama shouldn't go for the sage to help wizen up the ticket (Bush/Cheney) but the smart hottie (Clinton/Gore)."