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famish
7 dictionary results for: famish
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This
fam·ish       [fam-ish] Pronunciation Key
–verb (used with object), verb (used without object) Archaic.
1.to suffer or cause to suffer extreme hunger; starve.
2.to starve to death.
[Origin: 1350–1400; ME famisshe, equiv. to famen to starve (< AF, MF afamer < VL *affamāre, equiv. to L af- af- + famāre, deriv. of famés hunger) + -isshe -ish2]
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
fam·ish       (fām'ĭsh)  Pronunciation Key 
v.   fam·ished, fam·ish·ing, fam·ish·es

v.   tr.
  1. To cause to endure severe hunger.
  2. To cause to starve to death.

v.   intr.
  1. To endure severe deprivation, especially of food.
  2. To undergo starvation and die.


[Middle English famishen, alteration of famen, from Old French afamer, from Vulgar Latin *affamāre : Latin ad-, ad- + Latin famēs, hunger.]

fam'ish·ment n.
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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
famish 
c.1400, famen, aphetic of O.Fr. afamer, from V.L. *affamare "to bring to hunger," from ad famem, from L. fames "hunger." Ending changed after 1338 to -ish under infl. of ravish, anguish, etc. The intrans. sense is from 1530.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This
famish

verb
1. be hungry; go without food; "Let's eat--I'm starving!" [syn: starve] [ant: be full] 
2. deprive of food; "They starved the prisoners" [syn: starve] [ant: feed] 
3. die of food deprivation; "The political prisoners starved to death"; "Many famished in the countryside during the drought" [syn: starve] 

WordNet® 3.0, © 2006 by Princeton University.
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Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Famish

Fam"ish\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Famished; p. pr. & vb. n. Famishing.] [OE. famen; cf. OF. afamer, L. fames. See Famine, and cf. Affamish.]

1. To starve, kill, or destroy with hunger. --Shak.

2. To exhaust the strength or endurance of, by hunger; to distress with hanger.

And when all the land of Egypt was famished, the people cried to Pharaoh for bread. --Cen. xli. 55.

The pains of famished Tantalus he'll feel. --Dryden.

3. To kill, or to cause to suffer extremity, by deprivation or denial of anything necessary.

And famish him of breath, if not of bread. --Milton.

4. To force or constrain by famine.

He had famished Paris into a surrender. --Burke.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Famish

Fam"ish\, v. i. 1. To die of hunger; to starve.

2. To suffer extreme hunger or thirst, so as to be exhausted in strength, or to come near to perish.

You are all resolved rather to die than to famish? --Shak.

3. To suffer extremity from deprivation of anything essential or necessary.

The Lord will not suffer the soul of the righteous to famish. --Prov. x. 3.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Famish

Fam"ish\, a. Smoky; hot; choleric.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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