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starve |
3 definitions found From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: Starve \Starve\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. {Starved}; p. pr & vb n. {Starving}.] [OE. sterven to die, AS steorfan akin to D. sterven, G. sterben, OHG. sterban Icel. starf labor, toil.] 1. To die; to perish. [Obs., except in the sense of perishing with cold or hunger.] --Lydgate. In hot coals he hath himself raked . . . Thus starved this worthy mighty Hercules. --Chaucer. 2. To perish with hunger; to suffer extreme hunger or want to be very indigent. Sometimes virtue starves, while vice is fed. --Pope. 3. To perish or die with cold. --Spenser. Have I seen the naked starve for cold? --Sandys. Starving with cold as well as hunger. --W. Irving. Note: In this sense still common in England, but rarely used of the United States. From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: Starve \Starve\, v. t. 1. To destroy with cold. [Eng.] From beds of raging fire, to starve in ice Their soft ethereal warmth. --Milton. 2. To kill with hunger; as maliciously to starve a man is in law, murder. 3. To distress or subdue by famine; as to starvea garrison into a surrender. Attalus endeavored to starve Italy by stopping their convoy of provisions from Africa. --Arbuthnot. 4. To destroy by want of any kind as to starve plans by depriving them of proper light and air. 5. To deprive of force or vigor; to disable. The pens of historians, writing thereof, seemed starved for matter in an age so fruitful of memorable actions. --Fuller. The powers of their minds are starved by disuse. --Locke. From WordNet r 1.6 [wn]: starve v 1: be hungry; go without food; "Let's eat--I'm starving!" [syn: {hunger}] [ant: {be full}] 2: die of food deprivation; "The political prisoners starved to death" 3: deprive of food; "They starved the prisoners" [ant: {feed}] 4: have a craving, appetite, or great desire for [syn: {crave}, {hunger}, {thirst}, {lust}]
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