Category:Starve

Starve, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Starved; p. pr. & vb. n. Starving.] Etym: [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.

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.