"diminish, become less, shrink," 1590s (Shakespeare), apparently diminutive and frequentative of dwine "waste or pine away," from Middle English dwinen "waste away, fade, vanish," from Old English dwinan, from Proto-Germanic *dwinana (source also of Dutch dwijnen "to vanish," Old Norse dvina, Danish tvine "to pine away ...

When did Shakespeare First use the word dwindle?

Shakespeare and Christopher Marlowe both used the word “gloomy” around the same time, probably based on the Scottish “gloom,” meaning “a sullen or displeased look.” “Dwindle” first appeared in Henry the Fourth. It is a diminutive form of the Middle English dwinen, meaning “to waste away or fade.”

What do dwindle means?

: to become steadily less : shrink Their savings dwindled to nothing. a dwindling population. transitive verb. : to make steadily less.