(adj) very thin especially from disease or hunger or cold, Syn. haggard, pinched, wasted, cadaverous, gaunt, emaciated, skeletal, Example:emaciated bony hands; a nightmare population of gaunt men and skeletal boys; eyes were haggard and cavernous; small pinched faces; kept life in his wasted frame only by grim concentration
v. i. [ imp. & p. p. Emaciated p. pr. & vb. n. Emaciating. ] [ L. emaciatus, p. p. of emaciare to make lean; e + maciare to make lean or meager, fr. macies leanness, akin to macer lean. See Meager. ] To lose flesh gradually and become very lean; to waste away in flesh. “He emaciated and pined away.” Sir T. Browne. [ 1913 Webster ]
adj. having become so thin that the bones noticeably protude under the skin; as, emaciated bony hands. Syn. -- bony, cadaverous, gaunt, haggard, pinched, skeletal, wasted. [ WordNet 1.5 ]