To make weak or feeble; to weaken or exhaust.
From Old French 'afeblir' (to weaken), combining the prefix 'a-' (to) with 'feeble.' The root ultimately traces to Latin 'flebilis' (lamentable), but the connection weakened over time.
This verb is practically extinct now, but 'feeble' itself is thriving—it shows how English drops certain verb forms while keeping the adjective, creating an imbalance in related word families.
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