edacious

American  

[ih-dey-shuhs] / ɪˈdeɪ ʃəs /

adjective

1. devouring; voracious; consuming.

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edacious British  

/ ɪˈdæsɪtɪ, ɪˈdeɪʃəs /

adjective

1. humorous devoted to eating; voracious; greedy

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Other Word Forms

• edaciously
  adverb
• edacity
  noun
• unedacious
  adjective
• unedaciously
  adverb

Etymology

Origin of edacious

First recorded in 1810–20; edaci(ty) + -ous

Explanation

Watching your edacious uncle at an all-you-can-eat buffet would be an alarming experience, since edacious means eating huge amounts of food ravenously. If you go all day without eating, you're bound to be edacious by dinner time. Although sometimes the adjective edacious is used to simply mean "related to eating," it more usually implies a gluttonous devouring of food. The root word is the Latin edax, "voracious or gluttonous," which comes from edere, "to eat."

Example Sentences

Despite the author's overfondness for obscure�and sometimes misspelled�words, such as lachrymator, ecdysize, catasta, edacious and vibrissae,* Filmore's wide-eyed discovery that stone walls do not a prison make has some fine moments of upside-down humor.

From Time Magazine Archive

If, mounting MALAMBRUNO's steed, He showed more sanguine than sagacious, He was not moved by huckster greed, Or pride edacious.

From Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 99, November 29, 1890 by Various

These words Hyndford listened to with an edacious solid countenance, and greedily took them down.

From History of Friedrich II of Prussia — Volume 13 by Carlyle, Thomas

After this Hugo, not contented with the tragedy of the edacious murderer, gives us seven pages of his favourite rhetoric in saccadé paragraphs on the general question.

From A History of the French Novel, Vol. 2 To the Close of the 19th Century by Saintsbury, George

And that he became audacious, edacious, and loquacious, is evident from such wit and flippancy as he here likes to display.

From The Book of Khalid by Rihani, Ameen Fares