1. To become very weak and thin or to physically waste away: Debora's mother had an illness that emaciated her body so much that it resulted in a serious loss of weight which made her very thin and almost unrecognizable.
2. Etymology: "to make excessively thin"; from Latin emaciatus, and emaciare "to make lean, to waste away"; from ex-, "out" + macies, "leanness"; from macer, "thin".