famish
[fam-ish]
- to suffer or cause to suffer extreme hunger; starve.
- to starve to death.
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Origin of famish
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for famish
Historical Examples
I sat on a hay-stack, and spoke nothing for some hours; for I was to famish them from words.
George FoxGeorge Fox
Never varlets So triumph'd o'er an old fat man: I was famish'd.
The Plays of Philip MassingerPhilip Massinger
Already languishing from sheer fatigue, must she now famish also?
A Gentleman PlayerRobert Neilson Stephens
I famish to begin again—and I will make time for that, and the girls too!
The Young Step-MotherCharlotte M. Yonge
Relief must soon come from some quarter, else many in this community will famish.
A Rebel War Clerk's Diary at the Confederate States CapitalJohn Beauchamp Jones
famish
- (now usually passive) to be or make very hungry or weak
- archaic to die or cause to die from starvation
- Irish to make very coldI was famished with the cold
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Word Origin
C14: from Old French afamer, via Vulgar Latin, from Latin famēs famine
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for famish
v.
c.1400, famyschen, alteration of famen (late 14c.), a shortening of Old French afamer, from Vulgar Latin *affamare "to bring to hunger," from ad famem, from Latin fames "hunger" (see famine).
Ending changed mid-14c. to -ish under influence of ravish, anguish, etc. The intransitive sense is from 1520s. Related: Famished; famishing.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper