pine away

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.

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.

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.
See also:
  • yearn
  • yearn for
  • yearn for (someone or something)
  • yearning
  • pine
  • pine after
  • pine after (someone or something)
  • pine for
  • pine for (someone or something)
  • pine over (someone or something)
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.
Rage Against the Machines
But we were determined he wouldn't pine away. He had to have company."
pet sos: Herbie goes bananas for a new friend; AFTER CAESAR THE GERMAN SHEPHERD DIED A NEW PAL HAD TO BE FOUND BEFORE ONE UNHAPPY GREYHOUND PINED AWAY
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?
JUST JOAN; Battered men get a raw deal in life
People pine away. It baffles the doctors the way some people pine away for no reason.
Images of subversion: Ishmael Reed and the hoodoo trickster
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.
Marvell's 'To His Coy Mistress' and Sandys's translation of Ovid's Metamorphoses
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.
Nipping latest stellar controversies in the bud
"If Anne were taken away from her familiar surroundings, and from those she loves, she would simply pine away and die.
Anne is 54. Her owners insist they love her but animal activists want to rescue her. She is the.. Last circus elephant; EXCLUSIVE
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.
Pack your trunk Anne; VICTORY FREEDOM FOR IRCUS ANIMALS
"If Annie was taken away from her familiar surroundings and the company of those she loves she would simply pine away and die.
Don't ban Annie
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.
Pack your trunk Anne; VICTORY AFTER U-TURN ON CIRCUS ANIMALS