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Starving   /stˈɑrvɪŋ/   Listen
verb
Starve  v. t.  
1.
To destroy with cold. (Eng.) "From beds of raging fire, to starve in ice Their soft ethereal warmth."
2.
To kill with hunger; as, maliciously to starve a man is, in law, murder.
3.
To distress or subdue by famine; as, to starve a garrison into a surrender. "Attalus endeavored to starve Italy by stopping their convoy of provisions from Africa."
4.
To destroy by want of any kind; as, to starve plants 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." "The powers of their minds are starved by disuse."


Starve  v. i.  (past & past part. starved; pres. part. starving)  
1.
To die; to perish. (Obs., except in the sense of perishing with cold or hunger.) "In hot coals he hath himself raked... Thus starved this worthy mighty Hercules."
2.
To perish with hunger; to suffer extreme hunger or want; to be very indigent. "Sometimes virtue starves, while vice is fed."
3.
To perish or die with cold. "Have I seen the naked starve for cold?" "Starving with cold as well as hunger." Note: In this sense, still common in England, but rarely used in the United States.





Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48


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"Starving" Quotes from Famous Books



... said the missionary, "but I can spare you very little—almost nothing. The seal hunt was a failure with the people all down north, and they are starving, and I must take care of them. This year there are so many needy ones our stock will go only a little way. I'll divide it the best way I know how, but, God help the poor folk, it won't go far, and I'm praying God to send ...
— Bobby of the Labrador • Dillon Wallace
... and die. As a matter of fact, whether any one loved her or not did not in the least interest her. There were several dozen men who could testify to that. They knew! What she really wanted was to be head over ears in love—to adore some one, to worship him, to imagine herself starving for him and making sacrifice hits for him; but when the moment came to make the sacrifice hit and marry the man, she invariably found that a greater, truer love had arisen—for ...
— The Lost Road • Richard Harding Davis
... The chief of the brigands was growing restless. He finally declared that unless the ransom was delivered that night he would rid himself of them all. The tiger was starving. In order to prove that he was not chattering idly he had the prisoners tied to the wheels of the cage. It would at least amuse him to watch their ...
— The Adventures of Kathlyn • Harold MacGrath
... best, only to learn in time that the best could win no praise, only avert punishment. The spells of good nature arrived more seldom in his uncle's heart. His aunt was a drunken shrew and soon Rolf looked on the days of starving and physical misery with his mother as the days of ...
— Rolf In The Woods • Ernest Thompson Seton
... one moment I wished I was back in the old Vallambrosa, starving and hoping. And then I got numb, and didn't care. And then I felt that somebody else was in the water close by me, holding me up. He had followed me, and jumped ...
— Options • O. Henry


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