starve
VerbWordNet 3.0
Verb (5)
- be hungry; go without food“Let's eat--I'm starving!”Synonyms: hungerfamish
- die of food deprivation“The political prisoners starved to death”“Many famished in the countryside during the drought”Synonyms: famish
- deprive of food“They starved the prisoners”Synonyms: famish
- have a craving, appetite, or great desire forSynonyms: cravehungerthirstlust
- deprive of a necessity and cause suffering“he is starving her of love”“The engine was starved of fuel”
Webster's Dictionary (GCIDE)
1.To die; to perish. [Obs., except in the sense of perishing with cold or hunger.] --Lydgate. [1913 Webster]
In hot coals he hath himself raked . . . Thus starved this worthy mighty Hercules.— Chaucer.[1913 Webster]
2.To perish with hunger; to suffer extreme hunger or want; to be very indigent. [1913 Webster]
Sometimes virtue starves, while vice is fed.— Pope.[1913 Webster]
3.To perish or die with cold. --Spenser. [1913 Webster]
Have I seen the naked starve for cold?— Sandys.[1913 Webster]
Starving with cold as well as hunger.— W. Irving.[1913 Webster]
Note: In this sense, still common in England, but rarely used in the United States. [1913 Webster]
1.To destroy with cold. [Eng.] [1913 Webster]
From beds of raging fire, to starve in ice Their soft ethereal warmth.— Milton.[1913 Webster]
2.To kill with hunger; as, maliciously to starve a man is, in law, murder. [1913 Webster]
3.To distress or subdue by famine; as, to starve a garrison into a surrender. [1913 Webster]
Attalus endeavored to starve Italy by stopping their convoy of provisions from Africa.— Arbuthnot.[1913 Webster]
4.To destroy by want of any kind; as, to starve plants by depriving them of proper light and air. [1913 Webster]
5.To deprive of force or vigor; to disable. [1913 Webster]
The pens of historians, writing thereof, seemed starved for matter in an age so fruitful of memorable actions.— Fuller.[1913 Webster]
The powers of their minds are starved by disuse.— Locke.[1913 Webster]