shriveldom

Updated: May 21, 2025

Little Pitter Nilken had arrived at that stage of shriveldom, at which both fruits and people cannot hold out much longer without a change. He still managed to swing himself over the counter as lightly as a cork when the enemy became too troublesome, and the redoubtable iron ruler had lost none of its gruesome terrors. Mrs. Worse, on the contrary, had become rather stout in the course of years.

Alexander Lange Kielland - Garman and Worse: A Norwegian Novel