starve definition | Dictionary.com

starve

[stahrv]

verb, starved, starv⋅ing.

–verb (used without object)

1.	to die or perish from lack of food or nourishment.

2.	to be in the process of perishing or suffering severely from hunger.

3.	to suffer from extreme poverty and need.

4.	to feel a strong need or desire: The child was starving for affection.

5.	Chiefly British Dialect. to perish or suffer extremely from cold.

6.	Obsolete. to die.

–verb (used with object)

7.	to cause to starve; kill, weaken, or reduce by lack of food.

8.	to subdue, or force to some condition or action, by hunger: to starve a besieged garrison into a surrender.

9.	to cause to suffer for lack of something needed or craved.

10.	Chiefly British Dialect. to cause to perish, or to suffer extremely, from cold.

Origin:
bef. 1000; ME sterven, OE steorfan to die; c. G sterben

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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starve (stärv)

v. starved, starv·ing, starves

v. intr.

To suffer or die from extreme or prolonged lack of food.
Informal To be hungry.
To suffer from deprivation.
Archaic To suffer or die from cold.

v. tr.

To cause to starve.
To force to a specified state by starving.

[Middle English sterven, to die, from Old English steorfan; see ster-¹ in Indo-European roots.]

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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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.

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.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Language Translation for : starve

Italian: morire di fame; far morire di fame,

German: (ver)hungern,

Japanese: 飢える

More Translations »

starve

O.E. steorfan "to die" (pt. stearf, pp. storfen), from P.Gmc. *sterban "be stiff" (cf. O.Fris. sterva, Du. sterven, O.H.G. sterban "to die," O.N. stjarfi "tetanus"), from PIE base *ster- "stiff, rigid" (cf. Gk. sterphnios "stiff, rigid," sterphos "hide, skin," O.C.S. strublu "strong, hard;" see stare). The conjugation became weak in Eng. by 16c. The sense narrowed to "die of cold" (14c.); meaning "to kill with hunger" is first recorded 1530 (earlier to starve of hunger, 1124). Intrans. sense of "to die of hunger" dates from 1578. Ger. cognate sterben retains the original sense of the word, but the Eng. has come so far from its origins that starve to death (1910) is now common. Starvation (1778) is a hybrid, with a L. ending, apparently first used in ref. to British policies toward rebellious New England colonies.

Main Entry: starve
Pronunciation: 'stärv
Function: verb
Inflected Forms: starved; starv·ing
intransitive senses
1 : to perish from lack of food
2 : to suffer extreme hunger starve transitive senses
1 : to kill with hunger
2 : todeprive of nourishment

starve (stärv)
v. starved, starv·ing, starves

To suffer or die from extreme or prolonged lack of food.
To deprive of food so as to cause suffering or death.

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