WordWealth: wizened

wiz·ened , adj.

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Students at Catholic schools all across the country felt the jolt of politics that fall, but at BC the unprecedented energy shot through everyone, students and teachers alike, even the wizened old Jesuits long committed to a holy ignorance of events outside the classroom and the cloister. Kennedy made nuns giddy, and he made monsignors regret having become Republicans, but his candidacy was no mere replay of the Al Smith effort three decades earlier. —— James Carroll; The City Below; The Atlantic; (Houghton Mifflin Company, 1994)

The wizened old man, complete with typical French beret, leans towards me from the neighbouring bar stool to confide that he has the healing touch. 'I can cure people over the phone too,' he mumbles into his glass as I look at his gnarled hands and dirty finger nails. 'It works as far as Marseilles.'  —— Jane Knight, 'Keeping It Real in a Fantasy Setting'; Guardian; Feb 09 2003

Trailer Park does one thing amazingly well: its sweet potato fries, served with all entrees. The exterior has a light sugar glaze, and the interior manages to avoid the rock-hard, wizened quality of most sweet potato fries. It's close to being dessert, and when the alternative is a Moon Pie, the right choice is clear. —— William Grimes in 'Diner's Journal' for the The New York Times; Feb 7, 2003

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