etiolate

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   to make a plant pale, weak, and abnormally elongated by depriving it of light

   Keeping the seedlings in a dark cupboard will etiolate their stems and leaves.

2. 2
   verb

   figurative: to make a person, institution, or quality weak, pale, or stunted

   Years of isolation can etiolate even a vigorous intellectual tradition.

Borrowed from French etioler, from Norman French etieuler and Old French estuble ("stubble"), ultimately from Latin stipula ("stalk, straw"). The botanical sense developed from the pale, weak appearance of plants grown without light.

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