Definition of "languor"

languor¹

/ˈlæŋɡə/

noun
countable and uncountable, plural languors
1. (uncountable) A state of the body or mind caused by exhaustion or disease and characterized by a languid or weary feeling; lassitude; (countable) an instance of this.
  Quotations
  Sometimes my pulse beat so quickly and hardly, that I felt the palpitation of every artery; at others, I nearly sank to the ground through languor and extreme weakness.
  1818, [Mary Shelley], chapter IV, in Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus. […], volume I, London: […] [Macdonald and Son] for Lackington, Hughes, Harding, Mavor, & Jones, pages 101–102
2. (uncountable) Melancholy caused by lovesickness, sadness, etc.; (countable) an instance of this.
3. (uncountable) Dullness, sluggishness; lack of vigour; stagnation.
  Quotations
  I rushed towards her, and embraced her with ardour; but the deathly languor and coldness of the limbs told me, that what I now held in my arms had ceased to be the Elizabeth whom I had loved and cherished.
  1818, [Mary Shelley], chapter VI, in Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus. […], volume III, London: […] [Macdonald and Son] for Lackington, Hughes, Harding, Mavor, & Jones, page 120
  From languor she passed to the lightest vivacity; her temper became merry and wild in the extreme; she was all at once a tease, a tomboy, and a witch.
  1923, Elinor Wylie, “The Serpent in Persepolis”, in Jennifer Lorn: A Sedate Extravaganza. […], New York, N.Y.: George H[enry] Doran Company, book 3 (The Prince), page 266
4. (uncountable) Listless indolence or inactivity, especially if enjoyable or relaxing; dreaminess; (countable) an instance of this.
  Quotations
  It is earth's brief breathing space, after the heat and hurry of her busier time; like that repose known only to the young and happy, when the nerves gradually compose themselves, the thoughts gather into some vague but delicious train, and the eyes are closed by languor before sleep.
  1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], Francesca Carrara. […], volume I, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), pages 1–2
  The languor of Youth—how unique and quintessential it is! How quickly, how irrecoverably lost! The zest, the generous affections, the illusions, the despair, all the traditional attributes of Youth—all save this—come and go with us through life; [...] but languor—the relaxation of yet unwearied sinews, the mind sequestered and self-regarding, the sun standing still in the heavens and the earth throbbing to our own pulse—that belongs to Youth alone and dies with it.
  1945, Evelyn Waugh, chapter 4, in Brideshead Revisited […], 3rd edition, London: Chapman & Hall, book 1 (Et in Arcadia Ego), pages 70–71
  Repose! The very word has a nostalgic ring to it, conjuring up a vanished world of pale solitude, gentle distances, summer vistas, languour, and lovely women …
  1984, Marco Vassi, Lying Down: A Horizontal Worldview, Santa Barbara, Calif.: Capra Press, page 65
5. (uncountable) Heavy humidity and stillness of the air.
  Quotations
  There is a languor in the air which encourages your own, and the poetry of memory is in every drooping flower and falling leaf.
  1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […], pages 113–114
  [A] certain languor in the air hinted at an early summer.
  1957, James Purdy, The New Yorker, volume 33, New York, N.Y.: New Yorker Magazine Inc., page clxvi
  The evening was mild, with a certain languor in the air.
  2018, Georges Simenon, translated by William Hobson, Maigret and the Reluctant Witnesses‎, London: Penguin Books
6. (uncountable, obsolete) Sorrow; suffering; also, enfeebling disease or illness; (countable, obsolete) an instance of this.

languor²

/ˈlæŋɡə/

verb
third-person singular simple present languors, present participle languoring, simple past and past participle languored
1. (intransitive) To languish.

Definition of "languor"

languor1

noun

Quotations

Quotations

Quotations

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languor2

verb

languor¹

languor²