pine away


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pine away

To lapse into a period of intense depression or melancholy due to one's longing for or grief over someone or something. I stayed back in Seattle pining away, while she was over in Europe having the time of her life. My grandfather pined away for nearly a year after my grandmother died, until eventually his heart gave out and he passed away as well.
See also: away, pine
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2015 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.

pine away (after someone or something)

to waste away in melancholy and longing for someone or something. A year later, he was still pining away after Claire. Still, he is pining away.
See also: away, pine
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs. © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

pine away

v.
To wither or waste away from longing or grief: After its owner was killed, the old dog pined away and died.
See also: away, pine
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Phrasal Verbs. Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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References in periodicals archive ?
In some ways, it is easy--and temptingto write off the neo-Luddites as sad-sack '60s refugees, aging hippies who pine away for a romantic, preindustrial idyll that never existed in the first place or, to the extent it did, was actually characterized by large-scale human deprivation.
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But we were determined he wouldn't pine away. He had to have company."
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She maintains he will pine away without her, but I think he will be fine - how do I convince her not to be so silly?
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And if the lady remains unresponsive, this man (the asserter of life and pleasure), like Echo, will only pine away into a voice with neither a body nor a body's physical expression.
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While we're on the subject of stellar break-ups, we should share the wry (and aray) observation that they put the stars involved on the spot in other sticky ways-because the show must go on, so they can't whine and pine away in public even if they're hurting, unlike us ordinary folks.
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"If Anne were taken away from her familiar surroundings, and from those she loves, she would simply pine away and die.
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Sunday Mirror readers have donated pounds 25,000 to help pay for Anne's retirement, but Mr Roberts says he won't sell or give her to a sanctuary, claiming that she would pine away and die.
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"If Annie was taken away from her familiar surroundings and the company of those she loves she would simply pine away and die.
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Sunday Mirror readers have donated pounds 25,000 to help pay for Anne's retirement - but Mr Roberts says he won't sell or give her to a sanctuary, claiming she would pine away and die.
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