a. [mod. ad. L. contābēscent-em, pr. pple. of contābēscĕre to waste away, be consumed. Introduced as a botanical term by Gärtner, Beiträge zur Kenntniss der Befruchtung (1844), 116.] Wasting away, atrophied; in Bot. characterized by contabescence.
1868. Darwin, Anim. & Pl. under Domest. (1875), II. 149. In contabescent plants the female organs are seldom affected. Ibid. (1877), Forms of Fl., 193. Many of the anthers were either shrivelled or contained brown and tough or pulpy matter, without any good pollen-grains, and they never shed their contents; they were in the state designated by Gärtner as contabescent.
